A common trap students often fall into when applying to graduate school is insufficient background research! Given the pricey and time-consuming nature of most graduate degrees, you really owe it to yourself to make an informed and carefully thought-out decision when choosing a course and putting together your application. Get started with our list of seven key areas to research when applying to grad school.

1. Career prospects

For many, a graduate degree is also an opportunity to develop the expertise and connections required to kick-start a career, move up a level, or enter a new field. Save yourself time in the long run by pausing to consider all your options. What matters to you the most? Income? Flexibility?  Job security? What are your interests? What would your dream job be? What would your ideal employment prospects and earning potential look like? You might actually find that while you completed a bachelor of arts in film studies, you actually – deep down – really aspire to become an environmental journalist or a lobbyist. Which graduate degree would help you get there?

2. The faculty

This can’t be stressed enough. Researching the faculty and looking up some of the research published by key figures in the department could help you figure out whether a university is right for you, and also help you win over the admissions officers in your personal statement and interview.  While universities are expected to remain wholly neutral and academic, different departments do favor different methodologies, theoretical frameworks and perspectives on their fields. They also have different areas of focus, reflected in the expertise of faculty members. When researching grad schools, make sure you choose a department well-matched to your academic and professional interests.

3. Facilities

Depending on your research project and discipline, you might need to have access to various pieces of technology or special library collections. Researching the facilities will help you decide whether to pick school X over school Y, as well as making a convincing case in your application. When applying to grad school, it’s absolutely crucial that you sound as specific and focused as possible, and referring to specialized facilities will help you achieve this.

4. Location

You need to be in the right frame of mind to tackle all of the challenges academia throws at you. Ensuring that you pick the best city for your graduate degree – a place propitious to work, play, affordable living and job hunting – will go a long way toward helping you secure happiness and perform your very best! You might want to take a look at the QS Best Student Cities 2016, which ranks the world’s best student cities based on a mix of factors:  employer activity, affordability, desirability, student mix, and university rankings.

5. Fees & funding

Tuition fees and funding opportunities vary greatly by country. Some countries, such as Germany or Sweden, offer free tuition; while other study destinations, such as the UK or the US, charge hefty fees for their world-renowned programs – in some cases offset by full tuition waivers, scholarships and assistantships for a select number of students. So before applying to graduate school, make sure that you can afford it and that you’ve got a fool-proof funding action plan. You don’t want to find yourself unable to complete your degree because you’ve run out of money!  

6. Course structure

Each university will implement its own course structure and reading list, and one course structure may be better aligned with your interests. Take a look at the syllabus outlined online in the course description. It might be worth shooting off an email to the course leader or other faculty members, to get a better sense of the course’s theoretical framework and overall structure.

7. Teaching and assessment methods       

Some graduate degrees are mostly taught, leading up to an end-of-course research project, while others have a strong focus on independent research from the outset. You need to figure out which teaching and assessment methods work better for you. Do you need regular contact hours with a supervisor and peers, or are you a lone wolf/independent researcher? Would you prefer more hours in class amongst your peers? What about assessment methods? Are you a confident test-taker or do you thrive on coursework?

Get personal answers to your questions about grad school

If you’re keen to get more personal advice before applying to grad school, look out for the QS World Grad School Tour – coming soon to a city near you. This is a chance to meeting representatives of grad schools from around the world, attend free seminars, and get all your questions answered in one place. You’ll also be eligible to apply for exclusive graduate scholarships.

Sponsored by IULM University

Digital transformation has affected every area of business, and tourism, of course, is no exception! From booking to on-flight marketing to social advertising, tourism digital marketing is experiencing tremendous growth at the present time.

Working within digital marketing in the tourism industry could mean that instead of dealing with dull products such as fizzy drinks or flashy sneakers, you would be using sophisticated technologies to promote amazing destinations and experiences around the world.

Here are three reasons why tourism digital marketing is the next big thing, and what makes this career so appealing.

1. The constant influx of new digital trends

Digital marketing is constantly evolving. Only a decade ago,  the mere fact of having a website was considered a digital marketing initiative, an add-on to a fully autonomous marketing campaign strategy. Now, obviously, this is no longer the case. Digital marketing is at the heart of every sensible company’s marketing and sales strategy. And so it should be. Now, more than ever, there is a huge potential to draw on digital trends, smartphone usage and social media to promote destinations and services. Companies in increasing numbers are seeking to tap into the infinite potential of mobile communications and the incredible hype factor of apps like Pokémon Go, and destination marketers, in fact, are already experimenting with ways to integrate the app into their marketing mix!

2. Data, data, data.

If you have an analytical mind, then tourism digital marketing could definitely be for you! Modern marketers spend huge amounts of time and effort trying to understand and adapt to the customer’s behavior. Data is driving much of digital marketing strategy today, as marketers have access to more information about consumers and their shopping habits, and are able, thanks to fast-evolving technologies, to both gather and use intelligent insight about customers to target them with the right offering. It’s not simply about finding clients that are interested in your destination, but also about being able to target your advertising to make the right offer to the right person – thanks to social advertising!

3. Create and curate inspiring content

Tourism digital marketing is not simply about data analytics. It is also about creating great content to inspire travelers and build customer engagement. It is ultimately about creating strong ties with customers to foster brand engagement and minimize risk in one of a person’s most important annual choices: where to spend his or her hard-earned vacation…

Launch your career in tourism digital marketing

To boost your career chances and start a brilliant career in the field, move to Milan to take advantage of IULM University’s master’s degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management… The master’s degree offers the option to specialize in online travel and digital marketing. The one-year program is taught entirely in English and consists of six months attending compulsory lectures led by professionals from major tourism companies, and another six months interning in Italy or abroad  at one of the university’s 500+ international partner companies. 

The new QS Undergraduate Scholarship, now open for applications, will award up to US$10,000 to a talented student embarking on an undergraduate degree at an internationally ranked university.

This award is a new addition to the QS Scholarships scheme, which each year offers a total of US$1.7 million in funding to students worldwide. Having previously focused on postgraduate education (including master’s, PhD and MBA programs), the QS Scholarships initiative is now expanding to support undergraduate students.

Up to US$10,000 will be awarded to the winning applicant, to help cover tuition fees at her/his chosen university.

Who can apply?

The QS Undergraduate Scholarship is open to students of any nationality, and in any academic field. The main requirement is that applicants must be accepted to study undergraduate degree at a university featured in the QS World University Rankings®, QS World University Rankings by Subject, QS World University Rankings by Faculty, or QS University Rankings by Region. 

How to apply

In order to apply for the QS Undergraduate Scholarship, you must complete the QS Applicant Survey and submit a short essay (500 words), focusing on an inspirational figure who has had a significant impact on your life so far. The essay could focus on an inspiring family member, friend, teacher or other professional, or a famous figure (past or present). It should also outline your academic and career ambitions, explaining how your chosen inspirational figure has helped to shape these.

The deadline for the first round of applications is 30 April 2017.

The 2016-17 edition of the QS World University Rankings® will be published on 6 September 2016 – expanded to feature over 900 universities this year. Now approaching its thirteenth installation, the ranking provides an annual league table of the world’s leading higher education institutions, currently topped by the US’s Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

While primarily created with the aim of aiding prospective international students, the ranking is also consulted by institutions, governments and other organizations with an interest in international higher education – providing a useful tool for benchmarking, comparison and goal-setting.

The ranking considers universities’ performance across six indicators, selected to reflect research impact, commitment to high-quality teaching, internationalization, and global reputation amongst both academics and employers.

Competitors for the top spot

The 2015-16 edition of the QS World University Rankings saw MIT retain its place at the top for the fourth consecutive year, having stolen the lead from the UK’s University of Cambridge in 2012-13. The only other institution to have led the list is Harvard University, currently second, which held the top spot between 2004 and 2009.

These three leading institutions are currently joined in the global top 10 by Stanford University (joint third with Cambridge), California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the University of Oxford, UCL (University College London), Imperial College London, ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and the University of Chicago.

Though the top of the table remains largely dominated by universities in the US and UK, there is increasing diversity of representation – with rapidly rising Asian universities in particular proving that it is possible to climb the ladder. In the latest edition, the National University of Singapore and its country-mate Nanyang Technological University are both within the top 15, while China’s Tsinghua University is 25^th.

Of the 82 countries represented in the last edition, however, the lion’s share is still claimed by the US (154 ranked universities), followed by the UK (71), Germany (43) and France (41). Other well-represented nations include Japan (38), Australia (33), China (30), Canada and Italy (26 each), Brazil (22) and Russia (21).

Could this year be time for a change at the top? Be the first to get the new results by signing up receive email updates, following us on Twitter, or downloading the free rankings app – available for iPhone and Android.

University rankings are increasingly part of the process of choosing a university. But what do rankings really mean, and how should you use them? Watch our short video to find out how university rankings can help you find your ideal university, and take a glimpse behind the scenes at the making of the rankings.

Video by Kai Song for TopUniversities.com