While such specialist degrees are currently only offered by smaller, second-tier business schools, the larger players are watching their success with interest.

CNN: Degrees go for specialist redesign

The new specialist degrees, however, have been designed from the ground up to be directly relevant to a particular business sector or industry.

CNN: Degrees go for specialist redesign

Keen to ensure their academic offerings stand out in a competitive market, growing numbers of schools are redesigning their degrees around specialist areas.

CNN: Degrees go for specialist redesign

Critics of the idea also point out that, unlike America, Britain already has a reasonably standardised exam system, which is designed to instil the sort of specialist knowledge that British undergraduate degrees tend to require.

ECONOMIST: Talent spotting

Toby has two graduate degrees, in education and as a reading specialist, and works three days a week at a special-needs school in Chatham, New Jersey.

NEWYORKER: Super-Rich Irony