European universities are behind,

I can't judge for the US but I do know a few European from up very very close. And of course, there are exceptions, but I wouldn't advise any youngster today to waste 5-6 years of their life following any of their preset curriculums. Rather use Mooks to master the 5-6 fundamentals of whatever domain you want to go in and then cherry-pick the relevant courses/experiences as you go from the entire world - and not exclusively from universities. Money then wel invested... Also as life-long learning is here to stay...

And as for the relative new domains of AI, bio-engineering, etc high-quality university education is still quite rare in most European countries.