The Harvard president has pleaded to president-elect Joe Biden to prioritise international students as US consulates resume routine visa services.

The majority (91%) of researchers working in Arab countries want to emigrate according to a survey conducted by Al-Fanar Media.

US universities have dominated the US News and World Report 2019 global rankings, taking out the top four spots in the leaderboard and eight places overall in the top 10.

American universities dominate the 2017 US News and World Report global rankings this year, claiming all five of the top spots, pushing the University of Oxford down to sixth place.

USA higher education institutions have outranked more than 1,250 other institutions around the world and China is slowly improving in the latest Academic Ranking of World Universities released last week by the Center for World-Class Universities at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

QS has produced a league table comparing quality in higher education by individual subject, with Harvard University leading the pack with the most "first places" for individual subjects. The analysis reflects individual institutions that excel in education in a particular discipline.