Debate about education (the Austrian point of view)

Every time when I move to a new country (and Austria is my 5^th one, actually), I pay attention to the new things around me and certain aspects of life suddenly become redefined.

This time my appreciation for education which I’m getting in the UK has risen dramatically... Some of you may laugh, but those who've seen both sides might understand what I'm talking about. 

Here in Austria I’m studying at Universität Wien and I couldn’t be more happy that my torture will end after one term… Most of my professors, the well-educated people that they are, prepare their lectures at home (I’m not complaining about that!), but then they come to the actual lecture with sheets of printed paper and they read out loud whatever they’ve written at home. What is the point of this, I'm asking?! Not to mention that it's a lot harder for me to understand when I'm listening to someone reading out loud the academic text (and in German of course) which I don't have in front of me... 

But I’m even more amazed when I see some students typing every word on their laptops... What are they learning really? How to be a secretary?!

There are no essays, no room for critical thinking, no initiative, nothing. Teachers around the world are complaining that students can't write and, instead, they "copy and paste". But what is it that we're doing here? Listening to somebody's lecture, "copying" the content in the form of notes or even word-for-word report and then, on the day of exam, "pasting" all the info we were able to remember by heart. Isn't that what it is?

One Austrian girl told me I must've been unlucky, because not all lectures are like this. And I admit, I have one professor who TRIES TO explain and talk, rather than read about books that we're "analysing" (or, to be more precise, HE IS), but nevertheless I must say - I do feel sorry for Austrian students, for they spend a few years of their lives "copying and pasting", instead of learning how to think.