In 1955, for a 'Nashie' to get on a Radar Fitters course, the pre-requisite was to have a degree. What the degree was in didn't matter! In their wisdom the RAF decided if you had a degree, you had the aptitude to learn, therefore they could teach you.
The 9-month course was a very significant investment by the RAF, as with the Square Bashing, this was half of the man's service.
I believe that part of the rational was that the Nashie would also be on the Class 'Z' reserve and the return on investment cashed in if the balloon went up.
My Fitters Course was 20 strong, split evenly with 10 National Service AC2's and 10 regular SAC's. Of the SAC's 9 were ex-Boy Entrants, most who knew each other.
So we had a bunch of guys, half university educated getting 3/6 a day, and the other half that probably didn't have a GCE between us getting 11/- a day!
A real oil & water mix. But by the end of the 9 months, we really were all mates.