This is, in my opinion, entirely the government's fault.

The government decides how much to fund universities based on publication quality, which they rate based on the journals the papers are accepted into.

There is almost no benefit to teaching students better, and there are huge advantages to passing students who would otherwise fail. This is because universities have a strict limit on the number of students they can accept, and these are not replaced if students fail their first year.

So, to maximise income universities have to keep hold of students, while getting as many papers as possible into high quality journals.