Now, the policy of 'everyone who wants too should go & Britain
will be great again' has
made the whole thing unaffordable. So we have a system which
works against people from a poorer background.
Graham
Penzance

Not only that, but in the 1960s, with an ordinary degree,
employers were keen to snap up new graduates. These days, there
are so many people with ordinary degrees that in order to have
the opportunities that new graduates had then, today's students
have to go on to a master's or even a PhD, which involve several
more years' study and expense.

A friend of mine taught for many years at one of the new
universities. They were under pressure to pass as many students
as possible, even though the students were not really achieving
the necessary standards to get a degree. I gather that the
institution got more money if the pass rate was higher. The
result, according to my friend, was that there were new
graduates who had not in fact even attained the standards of
that institution, let alone the standards of leading
universities. And the result of that was that potential
employers did not trust any of the degrees awarded by that
institution, thus disadvantaging students who had achieved the
expected standards.

Anne