Viewpoint: Not a degree of intelligence

The massive expansion in graduate training following the publication of the Robbins report was an error of Himalayan proportions. Prior to the huge capital investment made in higher education in the 1960s, the demand for and supply of graduates had been in equilibrium. Hence the dramatic increase in supply inevitably resulted in graduate unemployment and, in addition, produced massive graduate under‐employment. Many jobs which were formerly successfully undertaken by good eighteen‐year‐old youngsters are now indifferently handled by frustrated graduates.