This would be similar to internships in research labs (for the academically inclined) or startups (for product inclined). This is not at all similar to an internship at a traditional company, where you're given some kind of a bullshit problem that no one else wants to touch. Doing research or building a product (or, preferably, a mix of both) should be central part of the curriculum, not an afterthought which you might or might not pursue.

Yes, part of it should be that the student gets academic credits that count towards graduation. Even establishing minimum and maximum quotas of which credits come from apprenticeships is healthy with moderation.

But a bigger part of it is that the University must provide for oversight so that the actual tasks assigned to the students is relevant to their academic goals, and that the complexity of the tasks increases progresively in order to present the students with renewed challenges according to their growing skillset.

Without this formal oversight, the whole thing could easily degenerate in a shady personal business where the school's officials "rent" their pupil's slave labor to the highest bidder.

I would argue even if they do rent "slave labor", if the tasks are appropriate to the chosen specialization, and the cost to the student is lower overall (ideally zero for tuition), it'd be an improvement over the status quo.

What I am hearing is that, as long as you do "something with computers" and it does not cost any extra money, you'd be happy to exchange 4 years of your time for a Bs in CS?

What about getting - gasps, the horror - and actual job as a data entry clerk? You know... something that pays you money instead of making the dean richer with your efforts?

Compared to what, though? To paying tens (up to over a hundred for top schools) of thousands of dollars for the same thing but without practical skills? Ideally, people would be leaving school with something to show for it: open source code, launched projects, co-authorship on research papers, stuff like that. Or better yet, leave as cohesive teams, ready to rip in the public sector. Or even better: leave as a part of a startup with their own product (accelerator model), while school would retain minority interest.

So, now you want to write open source code, launch projects, co-author papers,... not on my watch, kiddo.

Now go put your nose down on those damned spreadsheets. Copy from column A to column Q - no, no macros, thankyouverymuch - but convert everything to UPPERCASE, and fix typos please, unless that was not a typo, in which case don't.

And remember, the Dean already cashed the check I sent him, so you better hurry up. I want no less than 100 rows per hour. Otherwise you flunk the semester, and while you don't pay tution your parents are going to get tired of having to support your lame ass if you do not start to bring a wage home one of this years.

Is that "practical" enough for you?

I'm not even going to dignify this with a proper response.