"A British university student is educated in a much narrower range of subjects."

Which is as it should be! The Dutch system works that way as well, and I never got the point of the US system, which seems to me to be 'hahahaha you THOUGHT you were going to study this one thing you found fascinating, right? WRONG! You will have to learn a little about everything IN THE WORLD, especially the stuff you have absolutely no interest in :D'

Seriously, secondary school is for 'learn a little bit about everything!', not university.