>I think you are confusing "universities" with "USA universities"
When the thread topic title starts with "Texas College Professor" on a US hosted web site, in English, not appending "in the USA" to every single assertion is not unreasonable.
Most USA-people do this, and they're aware of it: when they talk about 'universities', or '[some class of] people', or 'VC' or whatever else. I think the reasons they do it are a combination of efficiency and a feeling that the rest of the world isn't always necessary to the discussion.
Those of us outside the US may feel it's naive, but it's unlikely they'll change. The simplest thing for us to do is to assume they always mean USA-[topic].
I'll agree on the debt side. The grade issue is infinitely worse in a lot of competitive cultures.
Even if you take the money factor away, Have non-US universities really figured out higher education? Most of them tend to either be a lot more rigid in structure, or they copy from the US system.
Personally, I'm much happier I went to a UK university where the final degree "class" was based almost entirely on what you did in the final year (I think it was 80% fourth year and 20% third) as I was a terrible student in the first year, average in the second and did really well in the final two years and got a first.
Not saying that this approach is "better" - just that it suited me!
When the thread topic title starts with "Texas College Professor" on a US hosted web site, in English, not appending "in the USA" to every single assertion is not unreasonable.