From talking to the guys doing their BSc at the AFB that they also do practical lab work at the training center - plus, of course, the majority are following up what they already do on the job i.e. mechs take Mechanical degrees & sparkies do Electrical. Remembering back to the often unsupervised practicals at college this has to be just as effective.
[G. This is probably as interesting a subject as any we have recently but this sub-thread isn't really "How I got into FT" - perhaps you could split it off?]