Actress and singer Hilary Duff has announced that she is taking a break from her hectic work schedule to focus on her education.

The 17-year-old recently registered for an online course offered by the prestigious Harvard University, which would allow her to study whilst still being able to tour.

She wrote on her official website: "Hello everybody! Sorry that I haven't been updating my diary. I have been really busy with the tour and everything else.

"Well, I am back in LA and I am taking a break from the tour, but not for long. I just started my first day of college on Monday. I'm taking on-line classes for Harvard University. Really cool! I am really excited about going back to school and the online classes are really cool.

"The teachers film their lectures then link it to the web and I can watch them teach and take notes from my computer."