the european/US & South African notion that completion of a university course indicates a person is capable of functioning on a higher plane.

I think that notion is slowly going away. Co-ops and Internships are becoming more and more popular as employers see how beneficial it is to hire someone who has had experience in the real world workplace. My school, U. of Cinci, was the first to require cooperative education as part of the degree. It started in the Engineering College and then spread to most of the other majors. Many people come here mainly because of the co-op opportunity. I'm in the School of Architecture and Interior Design. Co-op plays a major part in why Arch is ranked 3rd in the nation (behind Harvard and Cornell) and Interior is ranked 1st.