I have several friends that are 30+ years as lecturers, also at Russell Group universities, and their view is very different to yours. They're generally of the

I have several friends that are 30+ years as lecturers, also at Russell Group universities, and their view is very different to yours. They're generally of the opinion that UK universities have now turned into visa-mills and poorly run money machines, with lots of students signing up, but far fewer turning up in person and completing the courses. Essentially the Blair-era of 'expand the universities' (and cynically get the 18-21 yr olds out of the unemployment figures) has lowered standards across the board. They don't, however, see anything like the "drastic" drop in numbers you report. As an employer in finance, I've seen our criteria in the early 90s go from a first or 2:1 from anywhere, to a first from Oxford/Cambridge/Bristol/Durham/Imperial only, and now our criteria is an MSc from a list, or a PhD from anywhere. Yes, a PhD. And we still get dozens of applicants for a single job.