True, but it's largely based on it... Anyway, I just think I didn't get enough practice.
About
my university... It mostly depends on the course. I've had ones where all we had was one exam at the end of 2 months, but most courses also require you to write an essay or do some group work on a case study.
All courses I followed had some form of literature. Mostly printed collections of articles and/or notes, but also a lot of books.
But homework? Sure, there's always some stuff to keep up with, they usually want you to read articles before the lecture, but nobody ever checks if you did your 'homework'.
The general view here is that if you want to do an academic level, you're supposed to have a certain level of discipline. You're not kids anymore.