Post-secondary or tertiary education, also referred to as third-stage, third level education, or higher education, is the education level not being compulsory for the citizens to adopt. It comprises of the educational degree programs offered after the completion of the secondary education level. It is also referred to as the tertiary education, which normally includes undergraduate and postgraduate education, as well as vocational education and training.

The concept of higher education involves different things like teaching, research and social services activities of universities, and within the realm of teaching, it includes both the undergraduate level and the graduate (or postgraduate) level. In the United Kingdom post-secondary education below the level of higher education is referred to as further education. Higher education in that country generally involves work towards a degree-level or foundation degree qualification.

United Kingdom has a different higher education structure like higher general education and higher vocational education. If we look at the higher education in the United States, then it specifically refers to post-secondary institutions that offer associate degrees, baccalaureate degrees, master's degrees or Ph.D. degrees or equivalents. Such institutions may offer non-degree certificates which indicate completion of a set of courses comprising some body of knowledge, but the granting of such certificates is not the primary purpose of the institution.

It is world over phenomenon that higher education and training generally takes place in a university or college. The education is based on the theories and it has a wider difference than the vocational education in theory and practice. The higher education has quite different structure from the post-secondary education such as that offered by institutions of vocational education. Higher vocational education might be considered as the research in the scientific field, which might concentrate on theory and abstract conceptual knowledge. A Vocational university is an institution of higher education and sometime research, which grants Professional degrees like Professional Bachelor's degree, Professional Master's degree and Professional doctorates) in a variety of subjects.

In a traditional manner it is important for a candidate to have a doctorate degree in the academic field. Universities have a fair amount of employees and new vacancies are continuously forming in the sector. In an ideal situation for any research university it is highly pleasing to see all the teaching staff being actively involved in the research, reporting and the formulation of new theories and discoveries.