Being Belgian I can say you're almost right. Universities are usually mostly about theory but there are other type of studies here apart from university. I tried the University (ULg, University of Liège) and failed because I didn't liked pure theory then I went on with a "lower" and much more practical type of study (don't known how it is call in the USA, here is Graduat/Bachelor opposed to Master).

You can "combine" the benefits of both type since you can usually make a Bachelor then a Master, skipping half the required year of the Master providing it is in the same field. So if you don't fail, you can have a Master in 6 years instead of 5, 3 of them being really practical.