Britain has far too many students, says CBI boss

THE drive to expand university education has produced a generation of poor-quality graduates that employers do not want to hire, the head of the country's leading business organisation has warned.

In a stinging criticism of both the UK and Scottish Governments, Richard Lambert, the director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, claimed many employers believe "more means less" in terms of increasing student numbers.

And he said he had lost count of the number of firms telling him "depressing" stories of Polish workers out-classing their British counterparts, who often struggle with basic English and maths.

In a speech to university vice-chancellors, he said: "If businesses can't find the skills or work attitudes that they need in the national workplace, they can perfectly well recruit them elsewhere.

"They don't have to hire people from the UK education system. And they don't have to locate their activities in the UK. That surely has been the big lesson since the EU enlargement of three years ago."

The UK government has set a target that 50 per cent of 18- to 30-year-olds should be in higher education by 2010.

The Scottish Government does not have a target.

The proportion of young people entering full-time further or higher education north of the Border has fallen from just below 54 per cent in 2005-6 to just under 53 per cent in 2006-7.

However, Mr Lambert said business people have "very little interest at all in government targets" for making sure more people go to university.

He said: "There is a sense, I am afraid, that more means less – that the rapid increase in the number of students graduating from college or university has come at the expense of quality, in terms of knowledge, attitude, and employability.

"That, surely, is a perception that universities need to be addressing head-on."

Although Mr Lambert's criticisms were set in a UK context, his remarks also applied to the Scottish Government, which has responsibility for higher and further education north of the Border.

A Scottish Government spokesman responded: "Scotland's education system performs well but it can perform even better.

"We are determined to raise standards in the classroom and in the lecture hall, and to match young people's abilities to educational and vocational opportunities.

"Young people must be allowed to make their own choices about their future, whether it be to continue their education, go into training or straight into the workplace."