First biggest problem that ever hit the Oz tertiary education system was selling degrees to overseas "Full Fee Paying" students.
Immediately, the most lucrative part of the University's income stream had the expectation of pay the money, get the paper, not get educated.
Second problem was that they started using the Tertiary Entrance ranking (basically a number that rolls in all of your last 2 years of high school achievements into a number) to limit applications into certain fields (and encourage people into others), rather than the original "need to be able to jump a bar this high to have a reasonable chance of passing the degree".
Now we have people looking at their TER, and entering a field that will give them the highest pay for their HS academic achievement, and Universities that hand out degrees of a ridiculously low standard to keep the (oft non even English writing) Overseas Students flooding through the doors.
My Bro earns more than me, as a high school drop-out, become tradesman, foreman, estimator, General Manager...He worked hard, became a regular name in the industry, and had everyone after him.
There's way more paths than tertiary education to be successful.