Graduate secures a place that is up country (8)
I believe the answer is:
malaysia
'country' is the definition.
(Malaysia is an example)
'graduate secures a place that is up' is the wordplay.
'graduate' becomes 'ma' (abbreviation for Master of Arts).
'secures' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'place' becomes 'lay' (laying is a kind of placing).
'that is up' becomes 'si' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'a'+'lay'+'si'='alaysi'
'ma' placed around 'alaysi' is 'MALAYSIA'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for malaysia that I've seen before include "Eastern state" , "Kuala Lumpur is its capital" , "Country of SE Asia" , "South-east Asian Commonwealth federation" , "South-east Asian country" .)