In the decades of the 60's to 90's, the education system across most of the civilised world was, in my somewhat jaundiced opinion, systematically looted, pillaged, and bastardised by the proliferation of non-technical and "soft" sociological subjects, by the slow erosion of grade standards year-on-year and the "professionalisation" of the academic staff.

By "Professionalisation", I mean the slow change from academic rigour and teaching excellence, to great-sounding but wholly useless paper degrees and junk journal publications as the sole measure of "quality" as compared to the ability to reasearch new and useful stuff and to inspire students in the lecture theatre and tutorial room - plus political-correctness, of course.

During these decades, enrollment numbers boomed as degrees became easier to achieve, even for the below-average student, and employers still valued the degree - largely for historic reasons. Now, however, employers are seeing through the hype - most degrees are a waste of the student's and Universities' time and money.

Our cadre of youth is wasting their brightest and best years on lightly-tested non-difficult part-time attendance at uninterestering and unfulfilling courses. They would honestly be better off bolting transmissions into cars in Detroit or Adelaide or Bruges for a few years after school, If there was still a manufacturing industry in the western world. AFTER they have learned how to earn money, THEN they can compete for the brightest and best to go to a REAL University - and be paid to do so - IF they are good enough.

Making degrees open to all has made them equally simple and worthless for all. It has not helped the "elite", the average, or the disadvantaged.