I think you've hit the nail on the head, there is too much focus on IT and "soft" qualifications. The constant bombardment of adverts, "would you like a new career? then why not IT?" We are swamped with IT people with these notions that the unspecific IT qualification will earn you £30K.

+1

I remember back at school, the general attitude was that if you didn't go to uni, you were thick. You were constantly pushed away from other options.
Who wants that!? Quite frankly, having met some people who have gone to uni, it's obvious they would have coped better with going into industry.

I'm still not sure what you get out of media studies, that you wouldn't get if you did an apprenticeship. After a year in industry, even a computing degree seems to just miss the nail and gives you a good grounding, but nothing near what the industry is like.

The people who get sifted off at each level and and go into a trade as apposed to a service are in the minority.

Yeah I feel a bit sorry for people who are doing all these creative courses.

They don't stand any hope in hell of getting a job at the end of it, but they've had the idea pushed onto them through school and college that you need to go to uni.

How to say "would you like fried with that" in the Queen's English off an imaginary telepromter while gazing at an equally imaginary camera.