Hobbit,
I cannot see any advantage to a regular integrated course. Have I missed something or is there no academic content beyond the ATPL theory? What are the fees?
City University used to run an MSc Air Transport Studies, which included all of the ATPL study and was linked to Cabair. (They may still do, but I am no longer there so I do not know. Try
this) . I was told that the reason they moved to Jerez was that the British weather does not coincide nicely with the academic calender, and they had problems getting people into class as they had not finished flying elements. This course was also 3 years, but 2 years of this were academic study, a lot of which was in relevent areas, (AT economics, AT operations, aerodynamics etc.) The other problem was the ATPL was done in year 2, with a third year to follow. Apparently quite a few students left after 2nd year because they had their ATPL and could not see the value of another year at college with skills diminishing.
If you have the money for training, why not do the training now and try and get employed. After a couple of years, you could then do an MSc course in something such as Air Transport Management, you might even be able to get the company to pay for it!