Emma Watson
Harry Potter star Emma Watson is preparing to return to university.

She is one of Hollywood's biggest young stars but Emma Watson may quit acting to pursue her education.

The 23-year-old beauty, who rose to fame playing Hermione Granger in the Potter films, recently revealed she was prepared to miss out on acting roles to complete her college education at Brown University.

It will be the Bling Ring star's third attempt to get her English degree after first enrolling at Brown University in 2009.

The British actress completed two years at the Ivy League Rhode Island campus before taking time off to complete film projects.

"I really like the fact that it has a very open curriculum, that there aren't any requirements," she told Rookie magazine.

"I've kind of been in charge of my own education since I started out on Potter when I was 9 or 10, and I liked that I could design my own major if I wanted to, and I could take independent studies if I wanted to on subjects that weren't necessarily in the curriculum."

It is the Ivy League's liberal education philosophy, she says, that has kept her interested in pursuing her degree.

"The idea of classes being pass/fail make it sound as if you don't have to work as hard, but it actually gives you the freedom to try out things that you wouldn't be able to do if you had to get a certain GPA on your transcript," she told the publication.

"It lets you take classes that you wouldn't otherwise. And it attracts a certain type of student: [someone] very independent who wants to take responsibility and control of what they're learning. That really appealed to me as well," she added.

Last month, Watson admitted she almost threw in the towel after wrapping up the Harry Potter franchise.

She revealed that for two years, she focused on her education and refused to read a script in a bid "to figure out what I enjoyed, who I was and how I wanted to spend my time".

"I considered not being an actress; I considered it all," she said.