Reacting to the news that British employers find many graduates lacking in basic communication and mathematic skills, Christopher Beazley MEP, Conservative spokesman in the European Parliament for culture and education, said:
"The Government has insisted on the target of 50 per cent of all students being offered a place at university. We must not rush to blame our universities, they have responded well to this enormous pressure for expansion from these unrealistic and inflexible targets.
"There was bound to be a price for the Government's rigid approach, with little support for universities in this period of massive expansion.
"Sadly that price, for many of the current generation of graduates, is disappointment in matching their expectations to the reality of their career prospects."
"The Government should stop formulating education policy motivated by political considerations and inept social engineering and do more to follow through with the aim of allowing universities to produce high quality and balanced degree courses.
"There is, of course, the negative effect to our economy. There is also a danger that in the long run the UK will loose its academic reputation and cease to be the destination of choice for so many students from elsewhere in Europe."