As a person who's completed both academia and an apprenticeship, I assure you that university education provides the foundation to facilitate a successful apprenticeship. Shortening programs? Sure. Abolishing the university format? No. A mentor simply doesn't have the time or the mechanics to provide a complete education. Theory is as important as hands on learning. I agree that not having the letters behind your name is restrictive and narrowminded but those institutions provide a path. I have seen countless examples of someone who has a decade of work experience stand beside someone in the same field with the letters behind his name, and 8 out 10 times that university educated individual drowns the other in knowledge and comprehensive understanding.