That’s not a teacher’s pet who made it through university.

It’s a failure to recognise the value of non-graduates leading to an increasing number of graduate-only roles, even though most firms believe vocational courses deliver better skills than a degree.

According to research by distance learning specialist Home Learning College a third of businesses (32%) have noticed degree creep in their industry despite only a quarter (26%) saying that graduates make better employees.

Two thirds (67%) of accounting and finance professionals believe degrees have been devalued and do not guarantee high quality employees.

Worse still, a further 53% think many degrees are worthless and do not merit the paper they are printed on. The applied history of the art of tiddlywinks wsn’t mentioned so no aspersions cast.