[usrusr]

> As I've argued in a differnet post, the problem isn't too little theoretical knowledge, it's that uni is just seen as "the highest" and people who just want practical knowledge go to a place which is supposed to give you deep insight into the theories and research in your field because it gives the status qualification.

People who went to a school not matching their needs and desires have no right to blame their bad choice on the school or on "the system", when better matching schools where perfectly available. If someone takes a course they hate for "status" the problem is entirely in their head, because that's where perceptions of status reside. And besides, switching is possible and does happen (even on the pre-academic age level, but it is much more difficult and rare there)

> but for example my alma mater has started offering part time degrees, with 25% of the workload required per semester and twice the allowed maxmimum study time.

This is a great idea (even if the "25%,twice" ratio puzzles me a bit), it basically formalizes what "perpetual students" had been doing for decades, if not for generations, before the "rush the kids to a degree" reforms. People who only take a small number of courses and even less exams each year won't have consumed more university resources when they get their degree at some unforeseeable time in the future than people who rush through.

[igk]

The 25 % is the minimum required per semester, but you have double as long to finish. I.e., if during one semester you need to wind it down from the normal 50% due to life, it's still ok, and you can make it up next semester

[usrusr]

Actually, the whole concept of a per semester minimum is foreign to me. Back in the old days, a few mandatory checkpoints were expected to be reached within reasonable time, but how you got there was entirely up to you.

Very liberal, but everybody I know who went through that system recognizes as familiar the occasional nightmares about university administration suddenly asking for some minor certificate one chose to indefinitely put off years ago. It's part of who I am, I would totally do it again.