An employers group has criticised government plans to boost the number of school leavers attending university.

More than half of the firms surveyed by the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) thought there were already too many graduates fighting for too few jobs.

A further six out of ten firms said expanding higher education was having a negative impact on the quality of graduate candidates.

The government believes expanding higher education is crucial to meeting the demands of the UK labour market.

Last year, 43% of young people went into higher education compared with 33% in 1995.