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Interviewers at Oxford University aren’t interested in how much you know. They’re interested in how you think.

Which is why the questions asked in interviews are never quite straightforward.

Helpfully, the university has released sample questions for different subjects, and provided explanations about what the interviewers are really looking for.

The five questions below are chosen and explained by real interviewers at Oxford colleges.

Following the rise of Asia as a higher-education powerhouse, European universities have found themselves facing an entirely new level of international competition.

The best rated UK employer of undergraduates is Microsoft, knocking Bank of America Merrill Lynch off the top spot this year.

Microsoft moved up five places from last year, receiving reviews averaging 9.11 out of 10 from students who have taken placements or internships with the company.

ShanghaiRanking Consultancy has released the top universities in five broad subject fields, as part of the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2016.

The ARWU-FIELD 2016 ranks the best universities for Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences, Life and Agriculture Sciences, Clinical Medicine and Pharmacy, and Social Sciences.

For the tenth year, Harvard University has come top in ShanghaiRanking’s ARWU-FIELD for Social Sciences 2016.

Almost half of the 200 universities in the ranking are American institutions, and all but four of the top 20 are in the United States.

The world’s top universities for medicine and pharmacy in 2016 are published in a ranking of 200 universities by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy.

Harvard University maintains the top spot for the tenth year, alongside more than 70 other universities in the United States in the full ranking.

The best universities for engineering, technology and computer science degrees have been published as one of ShanghaiRanking Consultancy’s five subject rankings.

Two hundred universities around the world are included in the ranking, which has been published annually since 2007.

Every year since then the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has come top of the engineering ranking, and 2016 is no exception.

Two hundred of the best universities for life sciences and agriculture sciences feature in a specific 2016 subject ranking by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy.

For the tenth year, Harvard University ranks first in the world for life sciences.

For the third year in a row, UC Berkeley in California has taken the top spot in ShanghaiRanking’s natural sciences and mathematics category in the ARWU-FIELD 2016.

The ranking results reveal the 200 best universities for physical sciences and maths in 2016.

All of the top six universities are in the United States, with one UK university, one Japanese university, one Swiss university and another American university completing the top 10.

First Lady Michelle Obama offered advice to college students during a surprise appearance at a welcome event for freshmen at Howard University in Washington DC on 1 September.

Ms Obama joined late-night television host Seth Myers and actor Nick Cannon, who is enrolled as a freshman at the university.

All three emphasised the importance of working hard at university and stressed the impact college can have on careers.