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The new prestige of the British graduates is the most spectacular because in the past Britain has been much 【B1】 interested in universities and degrees than other advanced countries — or even some backward 【B2】 . In 1901 Ramsay Muir observed that Britain had 【B3】 universities per head than any other civilized country in Europe except Turkey. A UNESCO survey in 1967 【B4】 Britain was still close to the bottom in Europe, in 【B5】 of the proportion of the age-group from twenty to twenty-four who were enrolled in 【B6】 education. Most continental countries in the 【B7】 decade have expanded their higher education faster than Britain. University statistics are notoriously difficult to compare, because of the different implications of the word "student" ; in most continental countries anyone who 【B8】 his final school exam — the baccalaureate — is entitled to go into the university on the principle of "let him pass" ; but he has 【B9】 guarantees of tuition or personal attention. Partly as a result there are far more drop-outs and "ghost students" ; in France half the students never become graduates. A comparison of graduates, as opposed 【B10】 students, shows Britain in 【B11】 favorable light, for most British students take a degree. 【B12】 even in terms of graduates, Britain is still 【B13】 in the Europe league. Going to university is a much more solid ambition among the sons of the bourgeoisie in France or Germany than in 【B14】 ; many of the British middle-classes — 【B15】 the shopkeepers and small-business men — have tended to be skeptical, if 【B16】 actually hostile, to university education for their children, and there are still rich and quite intelligent parents who will prefer their children to go straight 【B17】 school into the city, to the army 【B18】 to farming. But the attractions of a BA or 【B19】 MA have penetrated into areas, 【B20】 among the rich and the poor, where they would not have been felt twenty years ago; and they are far-reaching.