I think you will find this was very heavily influenced by some of the European members of the JAA. I understand that in Germany you cannot call yourself an engineer unless you have a degree, possibly a German member can enlighten us. The academic content of JAR66 is/was strongly influenced by European members, but many have a distinct advantage of having maintenance training funded by the state.
Until the Head of Technician Licensing at Gatwick takes it away I'll remain a LAME.