Academic environments are good at fostering collective bodies of knowledge, where each person builds upon the work of the last. Art doesn’t really work that way though, at least not to the extent that quantum physics does, yet despite the unavoidable bad-fitted-ness of the situation it’s gotten to the point where universities are often seen as *the* sole venue for certain types of art. That, to my mind, is one of the fundamental failures of the current system. 

It’s like with finance taking over the economy. Banking was always supposed to be a tertiary, supporting role; a minor player in “real” business of providing value to people. Yet now it accounts for 40% of all economic activity, so no wonder the global economy is falling apart. Similarly, university was supposed to be a brief, supporting role to a compositional career, not the start and end of that career.