I believe it ultimately depends on the student’s goals whether or not they would prefer practical vs academic courses. One could infer that courses that teach more practical applications related to industry would better suit the student for a career within a company as opposed to a set of academic courses which better prepare the student for further academic advancement/career. However, such academic courses do have their place in industry depending on the department or area that the student wants to go into. For example, I believe that academic courses based on theory and textbook memorization can serve as a basis for PhD research related scientist roles within the industry – product development. Students with more academic course to practical (70/30) can be a good or bad ratio depending once again on what the student wants to do with their career. A student can have 100% academic courses and obtain a co-op or job within industry and work on up from there. It is possible. However, to be more fundamentally prepared and versatile from the gecko, the student should have a different ratio, possibly between (60/40) or (50/50). This would allow the student to get a more balanced mix of courses related to either advancement for a career in academia or industry.