Tony Collins, chief executive of Virgin Trains, has called for a major shake-up of the education system where A-levels and degrees are taught at work rather than in schools.

Collins’ views correlate directly with a number of other employers who are becoming increasingly concerned that students in higher education institutions are not coming out of their period of study with the necessary skills to thrive in employment

A survey by City & Guilds, the training provider, found schools are failing to highlight proper alternatives to university, with more than half of all school pupils saying they had not been told about apprenticeships or vocational qualifications. Instead, three quarters of the 1,000 pupils surveyed were told about degrees.  However, awareness of alternative routes in to university is becoming more widespread with websites like notgoingtouni.co.uk growing in popularity.

A separate study from the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) urged school pupils to volunteer more to build "employability" skills.

Teamwork, communication, leadership and other desirable skills can also be attained through societies and clubs and are often over looked by job seekers for their chances of increasing the likelihood of getting a job.

Collins commented: "There is a disjoint between industry and schools – there is almost a wall between us. We should teach A-levels and degrees in business. A degree takes about three years, with lessons accounting for half that time, so we should teach some lessons in industry. The student then has three years' worth of work experience."