What do you mean, "there are no absolutes"? There is Absolut, then Absolut citron, Absolut peppar, Absolut kurant, and the bunch of other flavors. Surely they are, at about $25 a bottle. And today universities peddle not so much ideas as more or less applied training in specialized disciplines. [One could argue that this is what they have always been doing, just the menu of the disciplines shifted away from theology and canon law]. The trouble with them is that they peddle a substandard product.
I prefer Lagavulin single malt myself, but in this realm, I am convinced it is personal taste that matters. In the realm of education, facts and truth and reason and logic matter. Otherwise there could be no Absolut or Lagavulin since no one would be able to make the stuff being completely muddleheaded already without the benefit of the spirits.
On the subject of ideas vs. training at universities, I would point to C. S. Lewis as the best example of a modern thinker who was university trained in the ideas of history, not the practical skills of the world (if that is what you meant).
Now, if only I could be helf as literate as he in one subject area. I believe he met the true spirit of the meaning of Doctor of Philospohy. That is what separates learning from vocation training. (Again, I am making assumptions about your meaning.)