The USA has a long history of relatively open access to post-secondary education and in the past has experienced rapid rises in the supply of graduates. In the UK, the higher education system has expanded rapidly in the past five years, and the number of graduates leaving higher education has increased by over 50% in the past decade. At the same time, changing patterns of employment and skills needs perceptions in employing organizations are fundamentally challenging traditional recruitment patterns in both the USA and the UK. The author compares the two countries in this context, drawing some insights, from the longer experience of the USA, into what may occur in the UK and other countries with rapidly expanding higher education systems.
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