Zzzzz
You old duffers really do bang on a bit, don't you?
I'll concede that we have seen something of an education dilution in this country. It can be most easily seen in the chartership requirements of professional degrees compared with times past, and doubly so when comparing what our system churns out compared to what is seen in parts of mainland Europe.
That being said, we do still put out high-quality graduates, and there's some bloody innovative work going on out there. Apprenticeship schemes may have been neglected, but there are many out there still running strong in the aerospace fields.
Recent areas of interest which have caught me, and are genuinely world leading:
-Synthetic vision systems for rotary pilots; Combining night-vision, thermal imaging, computer generated landscapes and passive millimeter-wave RADAR imaging.
Rather than groping around at night in bad weather, pilots now have the ability to see a clear, combined image projected into their helmet mounted vision sights. This was actively developed by QQ.
-Materials research...including leading composite work by numerous universities, and some very clever work funded by, and done for, Rolls Royce. They are probably the world leaders in current jet engine technology. Much of that is off the back of British efforts.
-Weapons technology; Only a momentary flick through the defence mags will show you a range of extremely clever bits coming out of companies like BAe, again largely British efforts. Long gone are the days of tossing dumb-iron, having used the force to DR your way to the IP.
The long and short of it is this; Put down the Daily Mail for a moment and pick up some trade publications, professional society journals and get off to your local RAeS chapter and catch a lecture or two. There's a plethora of work being done out there.