Actually I am someone that has been affected by this and so I can comment and I have to come out in complete agreement with the OP. Whether I agree with cutting universities to 50 is more debatable. Briefly an arbitrary number is not the way to do it, we should insist universities are up to a certain standard and hold their students to a certain standard, if they are not they should not get funding or be allowed that title. If they are then their is no reason to limit how many can do that. Currently if they are been held to any sort of standard it is an abysmal one.
A lot of universities and degree subjects offer very little in the way of value. Believe me they do the students that go their a very poor service.
I got BBD at a level with a B in general studies for BBBD if that counts (it shouldn't good rule of thumb generally if a university accepts general studies they are not worth going to. There will be exceptions but generic rule)
I dropped out of my first university and then went to a poly technic and got a 2:1 here is the thing I got that 2:1 with less then six hours of work a week outside of lectures and seminars of which i had 6-8 per week. I got a 2:1 with less then 14 hours total study time a week. Think about that.
let that sink in I am nothing special here I spoke to someone that went to the same university today the university specialized in his subject so was more rigorous their. He spent long hours on his degree but he mentioned to me he noticed hardly anyone else put much work in at all on the other courses etc. So it wasn't just me.
The fact is that I have myself to blame for screwing up my education, I am turning that round by studying for new A levels on top of a full time job, in the hopes of going to a decent Russel group university I had savings to begin with and am managing to put aside quite a bit.
However Boy do i wish people had warned me strongly to get better A levels and to go to a proper university. Boy what a waste of time money and life.
Here is the fact students who get CCC for the most part either did not work as hard as students who got AAA+ or they are just, not as bright. Sorry but it is true. In my case it was due to been lazy and I have paid for that and am putting it right. In other cases harsh but true they just are not as brainy.
If you get into a university that ask for CCC guess what they know the majority of students on their course either are not that bright or simply do not work hard enough. They cannot have students failing so they have to adjust the course appropriately and thus you get a watered down version of a degree.
I don't care if it sounds harsh if you have to work your ass off to get CCC then you are probably not as smart as someone who can get AAA. If so I don't think you are been well served by going to university. I think it would make sense for you to choose another path.
If you are as smart then you clearly are not working hard enough so your not ready for university yet, you have the wrong attitude and you don't deserve to go/are been poorly served by going.
There will be exceptions I accept some schools are better then others and some people get an easier ride then others. However this is not fixed by more abysmal education, how does getting £10s thousands in debt and spending 3/4 years gaining little if any skills whilst also missing out on valuable work experience help those who were previously disadvantaged? pardon my french but that is doing nothing but pissing on them when they are already down.
You want to fix that set up foundation courses/access courses that will bring people up to speed set up out reach programs to give them other opportunities, make websites such as exam solutions. Improve the education system for disadvantaged students.
I think everyone deserves further education if they are able and hard working. If they are not hard working then no they don't. If they are not able then lying to them and giving them a false substitute whilst charging them full whack for it does them no favors.