Haggis,
I don't know how it is in the UK but here in Australia our standards meet the JAA minimum requirements. For instance at the University of New South Wales in Sydney Bachelor of Aviation students complete 240hrs of flight time, their CPL, and their ATPL frozen, as well as 60hrs sim time. We also can have the option of doing a multi-engine rating and instructor rating, etc. Then the university can basically send us overseas to get our JAA licence. Hope that helps.