NOT too many years ago, students went to university for three years of work, a degree and then the assurance of a good job.

But universities and the Government have changed.

Tony Blair has announced plans to have 50 per cent in university-level education by 2010 - a system more resembling battery hens than the academic elite - leading to inevitable claims of "dumbing down" in higher education.

Today's students understandably dispute the idea that three years of study has become easy, but admit the employment market has become saturated with degrees.

However, universities also know this and students now feel that more should be offered in the way of career advice to stop the frequent limbo period after higher education.

Alex Phillips, a 21-year-old ex-King's School, Worcester, pupil, finished a three-year geography and American studies degree last month.

"I was aware there was careers advice available but there was very little encouragement for us to use it," said the Swansea University graduate, who has now returned to her home in Red Hill, Worcester while she contemplates her future.

"I'm going to travel in February, and, although I have always wanted to, there is definitely an element where I'm going because I really don't know where to turn with my job prospects."

However, Miss Phillips, who achieved a 2:1 degree, feels the problem of career advice could also have been tackled before she went to university.

"I took geography because I enjoyed it at school, and the school advised me to take it for that reason," she said. "I added American studies because it sounded very interesting but I wasn't really warned of the situation I'm now in.

"I feel that unless I want to be a geography teacher the degree I took has left me in an awkward situation. It's a bit strange to have done three extra years of studying and be completely at a loss for what to do."

The problem of non-vocational courses at university has also struck many other students who have finished their studies this year. And with higher intakes than ever planned in the future, it could be just the tip of the iceberg.

Mike Meadows, an ex-pupil at the Royal Grammar School, Worcester, has also just finished a three-year degree course in geography, at University College London.

"The advisory service at university is fairly good if you know what you want to do," said the 21-year-old, from Whitbourne, near Bromyard. "If you do, they will take you step by step through the process of how to get to where you want to go.

"The problem for many students is that they don't have one specific goal. In that case, the career service, which costs £20 to join, basically tells you to go away and come back when you have decided."

Mr Meadows, who also achieved a 2:1 degree, applied for more than 50 graduate management jobs over the Christmas vacation but was unsuccessful with each.

Despite his upper second degree from one of the countries top 10 red brick universities he now feels he has to do a more vocational masters degree, in Urban Design.

"I was turned down by so many companies, which were just not interested in a three-year degree, that I decided I had to study further," he said. "Many of my friends are doing the same.

"They have now realised there's no point in continuing a purely academic course at university, you need to take the sort of vocational study you can't get at school."

If the problem of top students struggling to find jobs is one of career information, it's relatively easily solved, with better-trained staff and advisers across the country.

However, if universities are merely becoming conveyor belts to achieve government statistics then their educational role is being seriously undermined.

University College Worcester, short-listed for full university status, strongly contests the latter view.

"Our latest figures show that only four per cent of graduates from last academic year are unemployed and that figure has remained similar for the last few years," said Tony Kidd, UCW's director of quality and education development.

"I also believe that graduates do ultimately achieve the top jobs that they previously walked straight into, but it takes longer for them to work their way up nowadays.

"Degrees today are not less valuable at all, but they have become far more of a longer term asset. Once graduates get over the initial disappointment that top jobs don't come easily, they can work their way up."

Reassuringly, there seems to be hope for students yet, though the days of graduates strolling into their pick of the jobs has clearly long gone.

Nowadays, the hard work apparently begins after university.