> Universities used to be expensive schools for rich people's failsons to "find themselves". That's why there's a lot of focus on "well-rounded" educations even today. Then western governments started offering taxpayer-funded tuition

Replace western by "US" for "well-rounded". AFAIK, all European university degrees are focused on a single topic, and its requirement (so, lots of math if you're studying physics). No literature classes required (or even available in some cases) if you're, e.g., getting a computer science degree.