What’s more stressful, end-of-year university exams or a bear attack? Common sense would suggest the latter, but one educational expert has said some students find exams so nerve-racking that the stress response triggered in a test setting is similar to that if a bear was about to maul them.

Thomas Williamson has been announced as the New South Wales Rhodes Scholar.

With students being one of the fastest growing demographic flocking to LinkedIn, the social network has unveiled the top ten skills which it has said will get students jobs.

DeakinDigital has rolled out a voice certification system, similar to those used in banks and in government, as part of an effort to stop cheats.

DeakinDigital has rolled out a voice certification system, similar to those used in banks and in government, as part of an effort to stop cheats.

Professor Emma Kowal, a Deakin University anthropologist who submitted her PhD when her daughter was seven months old, said building an academic career while being a young mother is extremely challenging. She said workplace settings can and should adjust to help women like herself.

“We know that women are leaving academia in droves in the postdoctoral years,” Kowal said. “This is a terrible waste of talent and a brain drain [that] we can do a lot to address. Letting women work means allowing research funds to cover childcare in the field or when attending conferences. It means providing appropriate and convenient facilities for breastfeeding and pumping. It means flexibility to work from home and virtual participation in meetings.

“Only when we make it easier for women to combine work and parenting can we know that our research workforce is the best out country can have,” she concluded.

A report from financial services company AMP has found financial stress among workers in the education sector is on par with the national average of 25 per cent – though the university casual workforce is more susceptible.

Australian teenagers with poor reading skills are no-worse off than those with medium reading proficiency when it comes to future employment outcomes, a new study from the University of Melbourne suggests.

What led to Times Higher Education becoming the university rankings giant it is today?

“It was probably put together simply because if you are in journalism, putting lists in a newspaper is a great idea,” answered Duncan Ross, data and analytics director at TES Global, the company behind the THE magazine, at the Australian International Education Conference. “If you put a list in newspaper … people come to your newspaper [and] read your newspaper, to agree with the list, disagree with the list, wonder why they're not on the list or why they're not higher up, etc. Lists are great."

Adam Brimo is the CEO of OpenLearning, an online start-up that uses a study for free, pay to be certified business model. OpenLearning recently signed a partnership with TAFE NSW's Hunter institute to launch a new VET platform called Learn.com.au.