The 18-year-old wants to concentrate on her degree after finishing filming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on which she starts work early in the New Year.

"I would like to go to university and complete a degree and so that will mean a break from acting," Miss Watson, who has made more than £10 million thus far from the Harry Potter franchise, told The Telegraph."I've always tried to balance my education with my acting career, but I just don't think it will be possible to juggle it with a degree course. I have a need now to study."

The actress, who was first cast as Hermione Granger at the age of nine and was educated at Headington School in Oxford, is currently on a gap year before starting university either in this country or the United States."There are excellent universities over there and I'm applying at the moment," she said. "If I stay in this country I will read English Literature, and if I go to America I would do a Liberal Arts programme."

After she completes work on the last Harry Potter film, of which there are two parts, Miss Watson has no further acting commitments scheduled. Her spokesman denied she is giving up acting for good but confirmed that "any future projects will take second place to University. Her first commitment will be to her course".

Whilst her co-stars in the Potter films, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, have signalled their wish to pursue a career in acting, Miss Watson has in the past emphasised other interests. These include, interestingly, fishing and she has in the past helped raise money for the Wild Trout Trust.

In April, when she turned 18, she gained control of her finances and it was revealed recently that she had purchased a £1 million chalet in the ski resort of Meribel, France.The teenager, who ranks as the 55th wealthiest young person in the country, speaks fluent French having lived in Paris until the age of five.