I agree. Class time is much too valuable to be lost on such minutiae. However, I'd expect a good university to: a) Explain the value of version control and act

I agree. Class time is much too valuable to be lost on such minutiae. However, I'd expect a good university to: a) Explain the value of version control and actively promote its usage b) Drop some hints on which good version control systems are out there, one of which is git, then let students pick, learn and run with their own choice It'd take all of half an hour, with great benefits for students.