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This weekend is one dominated by sport. If you hate sport and want to try and get away from it, good luck. America will be enjoying one of the biggest sporting events of the year- the Super Bowl, whilst the Six Nations rugby tournament is kicking off in Britain and Europe.

The Super Bowl Spectacle

First up, the behemoth that is the Super Bowl. Each year the finalé of the American Football season seems to get bigger, grander and slightly more ridiculous. This Sunday, Super Bowl XLVI will be played between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots in Indianapolis, and promises not to disappoint. Madonna, supported by MIA and Nicki Minaj, has been confirmed as the performer for the famous half time show.

The statistics surrounding the Super Bowl are just astounding:

• Last year 163 million Americans watched at least some of the Super Bowl on TV
• Adverts start at $3.5 million for a 30 second slot
• 15,000 tons of snacks will be eaten in America on Sunday, with the average viewer consuming 1,200 calories during the game

To get an idea of the huge operation that goes in to creating a spectacle the size of the Super Bowl, watch the video below of the last time these two teams met, four years ago.

The final figures for applications to British universities were released yesterday, revealing an expected drop in student numbers. There was a 7.4% decrease in applications since last year, with overall numbers dropping to 540,000. However, whilst many of the statistics make grim reading fro British universities, the report revealed that non-EU international numbers actually increased by a massive 13.7%.

With the deadline for UK and EU students passing last week, the report by university admissions organisation UCAS was eagerly awaited. Next year is the first year of increased tuition fees, and many experts were predicting huge falls in applications. However, in the end, although there was a significant drop, the figures were not as alarming as many of these estimates had predicted.

Indeed, a number of important figures in UK Higher Education were actually quite optimistic. Universities UK pointed out that the "dip is far less dramatic than many were initially predicting", whilst Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group of leading universities, explained:

"Despite all the hype, fee reforms are unlikely to cause a long-term decline in applications. In the past a fall in applications in the first year of higher fees has been followed by increases in subsequent years."

This weekend saw the latest round of football fixtures for the FA Cup in England. It brought the normal mixture of upsets (or ‘Cupsets' if you like that sort of thing), giant killings and rivalries, cutting the competition from 32 teams, to just 20 still standing. The competition that each year goes against all football betting hasn't disappointed this year.  

The FA Cup is the oldest football competition in the world and is very much a part of English history and culture. A huge range of teams are allowed to enter, meaning everyone from the best in the country to local amateur sides have a chance to enjoy the ‘magic of the cup' (a favourite phrase of football commentators and journalists).

This year, some of the country's most successful teams have been drawn against each other, meaning that whilst Manchester United and Manchester City (who won it last year- above) are both out, teams like Crawley and Stevenage are going strong.

The Daily Telegraph reported last week that businesses in the UK are beginning to look towards school leavers as an alternative to recruiting graduates straight from University. The research survey carried out found that one in five recruiters prefer school leavers, believing that ‘university graduates had unrealistic expectations of working life'.

Interpersonal skills and, surprisingly, computer skills, were cited as the most common skill lacking from new graduates, along with basic numeracy and literacy skills. Instead, younger recruits coming straight from school and college were described as having a better attitude to work, timekeeping and productivity.

This is reinforced by a survey carried out by the Young Foundation; the social innovation research organisation. A study in October 2011 of big businesses in the UK including HSBC, Proctor and Gamble, Santander and KPMG found that there was common concern about the quality of graduates. Again, the skills lacking were listed as commercial awareness, written and spoken English to a high enough level, technical skills...and interpersonal skills.

As part of Foreign Fridays, we explore a different country each week through its most unusual, amusing and odd facts. If you want your country to appear, then simply get in contact with us either in the comments below or through Facebook or Twitter.

This week it is the turn of Australia:

Citizenship Ceremonies are a popular tradition on
Australia Day. On that single day in 2011, a massive
13,000 people took Australian Citizenship.

Yesterday was Australia Day, when Australians have an excuse to bring out the BBQ, crack open some beers and celebrate their history. Every year on the 26th January Australians remember when the first fleet of British ships first landed in 1788. These days, it is a national holiday, and there are huge celebrations throughout the country, with festivals and concerts held in almost every community. An Australian of the Year is even crowned, with The King's Speech actor Geoffrey Rush gaining the award for 2012.