Britain to become one of most highly qualified countries in world

By  Steven Swinford, Senior Political Correspondent

Britain will have more people with degree-level qualifications than almost any other country in the world in 2020 after overtaking the US for the first time, according to official forecasts. 

Almost half of people aged between 25 and 64 will have a degrees or higher level qualifications within the next eight years, a 10 per cent increase which will see Britain rise from 11th in the international rankings to seventh. 

However, Britain is expected to fall behind other nations in international rankings for the number of people with GCSEs and A-level equivalent qualifications amid growing concerns that a generation of young people will struggle to get jobs. 

The UK Commission for Employment and Skills, the public-funded body behind the forecasts, hailed the rise workers with more skills as "good news" but warned that the opportunity for young people searching for jobs will "diminish". 

A spokesman for the commission said: "The rise in the number of people with higher level skills is good news as there has been an increase in roles requiring higher level skills such as managers, directors and senior officials. 

"However, the labour market has also seen a long-term decline in the number of entry level-jobs in the economy and unless recruitment patterns change young people will see their chances of finding a job diminish. 

"Creating more non-graduate routes such as apprenticeships and school leaver programmes would offer ladders of opportunity to young people, and feed the talent pipeline for employers. Those with higher level skills will be able to progress, but those with lower levels of skills will struggle." 

According the official forecasts, Britain will overtake the US, Switzerland, Finland and Norway for the proportion of people with higher-level qualifications by 2020. 

Based on current projections it will be seventh in the world, although it will still be behind nations including Canada, Kore, Ireland and Japan. 

However, Britain is expected to fall behind Australia, Belgium and Ireland for the proportion of people with GCSE or A-level qualifications, with its ranking going from 24th to 28th. 

This week record numbers of students gained university places amid claims that admission tutors had been required to lower entry grades to drive up acceptance rates. 

Figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) showed almost 400,000 students accepted places on A-level results day – up by 11,000 in a year. 

The total number of undergraduates starting degrees is expected to exceed half a million for the first time when all places are confirmed later in the summer. 

It comes after the Coalition granted universities greater recruitment powers this year, with institutions allowed to admit unlimited numbers of applicants with at least an A and two Bs at A-level and 30,000 additional students with lower grades. 

However, there are concerns that many students are studying so-called "mickey mouse" degrees at university while the sciences and engineering are increasingly neglected. Telegraph