I wouldn't say that Kent is even a slightly second rate university, it really depends on what you are doing at the university itself rather than just the university, if you are doing a course which the university is not great on, then you wont be getting anywhere.
Personally I did my degree there in Computer Science and have been accepted into a scholarship to a new graduate university in Saudi Arabia and that was on the back of a good 2:1. You just need to be the right sort of person to get into the perspective placements or job.
Back on topic though, I am going to have to agree that this is a case of several factors falling in on each other, one being the huge increase of **** degrees from **** universities, another being the downturn, leading to highly experienced people out of the job and looking for work for which they have years of experience in and are willing to do it for peanuts as long as they get the job, leading to graduates getting second place due to their inflated sense of worth.