Meaning & use
postgraduate degree
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A university qualification taken after a first degree, such as a master's or a doctorate.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a postgraduate degree' or 'postgraduate degrees'. It is often followed by 'in': a postgraduate degree in law.
Patterns
- a postgraduate degree in something
- do a postgraduate degree
- have a postgraduate degree
- study for a postgraduate degree
She decided to do a postgraduate degree in economics after working for two years.
Many employers now expect candidates to have a postgraduate degree for research roles.
He is studying for a postgraduate degree in computer science at a university in London.
Word forms
| plural | postgraduate degrees |
|---|
Common combinations
- do a postgraduate degree
- She plans to do a postgraduate degree in psychology next year.
- a postgraduate degree in something
- He holds a postgraduate degree in engineering from a top university.
- study for a postgraduate degree
- Many students study for a postgraduate degree while working part-time.
- have a postgraduate degree
- To apply for this job, you must have a postgraduate degree in a relevant field.
- a postgraduate degree program
- The university offers a flexible postgraduate degree program for working professionals.
Synonyms and how they differ
- graduate degree
- Used mainly in American English; it means the same as 'postgraduate degree' and is equally common in the US.
- advanced degree
- A broader term that can include any degree beyond a bachelor's, such as a master's or PhD; 'postgraduate degree' is the standard term in British English.
Word family
- postgraduate noun
- A student who is studying for a postgraduate degree.
- undergraduate degree noun
- A first degree, usually a bachelor's, taken before a postgraduate degree.
Commonly confused: postgraduate degree or undergraduate degree?
postgraduate degree vs undergraduate degree
An undergraduate degree is your first degree (e.g., a bachelor's), while a postgraduate degree is taken after you have completed a first degree.
Practice
After finishing her bachelor's, she decided to ______ a postgraduate degree in chemistry.
Choose one answer.
In British English, you 'do' a degree (or 'study for' one). 'Make a degree' is not used; 'take a degree' is possible but less common and would need a different context; 'give a degree' means to award it, not to study for it.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “postgraduate degree”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.