B1CEFRReading15 min

Reading: Higher Education in the EU

Choosing a university course

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IELTS Reading Practice 15 Minutes Level B1

Unit: Choosing a University Course

A short reading text about students in higher education across the European Union, followed by 8 IELTS-style practice questions.

📋 How to use this lesson

For teachers

Give students 10 minutes to read the text and finish all 8 questions on their own.

Spend the last 5 minutes checking the "Why" notes together so learners see how distractors work.

For learners

Read through paragraphs A to D once first to understand the general message of each part.

Read the whole sentence in each question carefully instead of looking for just one matching word.

Reading Passage

University Life Across Europe: What the Numbers Tell Us

If you are thinking about university, it helps to look at the big picture across Europe. Eurostat is the statistics office of the European Union. It says that there were 19.1 million students at universities and colleges in the EU in 2024. Eurostat calls this tertiary education. Of these students, 59.0 percent studied for a bachelor's degree and 29.4 percent studied for a master's degree.

Students choose many different paths, but some subjects clearly attract bigger crowds than others. Business, administration or law was the most popular field, with 21.9 percent of all students. Health and welfare, and engineering, manufacturing and construction, each had 14.7 percent. Arts and humanities had 11.1 percent.

When we look at who is studying, the overall balance is interesting. Women made up 54.9 percent of all students in the EU in 2024. In education, 78.8 percent of the students were women, and in health and welfare 72.7 percent of the students were women.

Other fields had a different picture. In information and communication technologies, 79.1 percent of the students were men. In engineering, manufacturing and construction, 72.2 percent of the students were men.

Questions 1–8

Answer the questions below based on the reading passage.

Questions 1–2

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

1. In 2024, more than half of all higher education students in the EU were studying for a master's degree.

____ TRUE ____ FALSE ____ NOT GIVEN

2. Business, administration or law attracts the most students because graduates in these fields receive higher salaries.

____ TRUE ____ FALSE ____ NOT GIVEN

Questions 3–4

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, or D.

3. According to paragraph B, which two fields had an equal share of students?

____ A. Arts and humanities, and business, administration or law ____ B. Health and welfare, and engineering, manufacturing and construction ____ C. Business, administration or law, and health and welfare ____ D. Arts and humanities, and engineering, manufacturing and construction

4. What can be understood about male students from paragraphs C and D?

____ A. Men make up the majority of university students across Europe as a whole. ____ B. Men represent less than thirty percent of students in every non-technical field. ____ C. Men are fewer than women overall, but they outnumber women heavily in technical subjects. ____ D. Men choose to study education as often as they choose computer technology.