That's a good question, but when you think that you spend more time "learning" at university than you spend "doing" during vocational education ... and the best way of learning, as they say, is by doing, then the answer starts becoming clearer. It's also said that you learn by your mistakes ... and making mistakes during your training is a lot better than making them once you're out there in the working world.
Let's talk money: with skyrocketing tuition fees - plus all the other additional costs of a university education, like travel, study materials, food, accommodation and that very occasional beer in the student bar - it's not surprising that many people who otherwise would gave gone straight from school to university are looking for a viable alternative ... and finding it in the shape of vocational education.
With vocational education, not only would you be developing and sharpening the skills you need for your chosen career - together with the kind of life skills you wouldn't have much chance of learning in a university classroom - you'd also have the chance to network within the sector you're training for, to find people or organisations to help you start the climb up your career ladder.
But that doesn't mean you should discount university completely - not by a long stretch. After all, you may just decide you want some additional qualifications after you've completed your vocational education. At which
point you could well discover that the only practical way of gaining those qualifications would be a course at university ... and here's where your training could come in very handy. Universities can be more willing to offer you a place because of the experience and qualifications you've already got.
And it's not necessarily true that university students look down on vocational education - in fact, they've been known to take some time out from their studies for some vocational education before returning back to their studies.