No part of the ATPL's is equivelent to any part of a degree.
Yes there is a largish volume of content. But the actual level of it is suited to 14-15 year olds how ever much they want to tart it up.
If they started requiring you to understand the principles behind the concepts in the ATPL subjects it might be a different story. But to be honest there is no requirment for that level to work as a pilot or even for that matter an engineer that fixes aircraft. I would hope that the ones that design the aircraft would know though.