verb phrase · formal

pursue higher education

UK/pəˈsjuː ˌhaɪə ˌedjʊˈkeɪʃən/US/pərˈsuː ˌhaɪər ˌɛdʒʊˈkeɪʃən/pur·SUE HI·gher ed·u·CA·tion

Band 6-7speakingtask2

to continue studying at tertiary level (university or postgraduate)

Examples

Many young people now pursue higher education to improve their job prospects.

Governments should make it easier for disadvantaged students to pursue higher education.

Some students choose to pursue higher education abroad for better facilities and different courses.

Band 8 sentence

Increasingly, students from rural areas aspire to pursue higher education as a route out of poverty, so governments must expand access and support.

Collocations

  • pursue higher education abroad
  • pursue higher education on a scholarship
  • pursue vocational or higher education

Word family

pursue verbpursuit nounhigher education noun phraseeducational adjectiveeducation noun

Common mistakes

pursue universitypursue higher education

study higher educationpursue higher education / study at university

Say it for a higher band

5go to university6study at university7+pursue higher education

Synonyms

go to university

study at university

Easily confused

attend university

I attend university three days a week for lectures and tutorials.

go to university

After finishing high school, I decided to go to university to study engineering.

Related words

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In Education & Study

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