A UK government adviser said too many young people were being pushed toward university, part of a wider global backlash against the turn-of-the-millennium drive to expand college education.
Britain set, and met, a target of 50% of school graduates attending university. But Alan Milburn said thousands are not finding work, and that the economy needed more young people with technical skills, especially in construction.
The US and Australia are undergoing similar sea changes, having boosted university education in the early 2000s and now worrying that doing so has devalued degrees and created a shortage of skilled tradespeople.
Some US states are moving away from degree requirements and towards skills-based hiring, and the federal government has expanded grants for apprenticeships.