[godwine]

Was that even a rule?

The degree is a hiring preference. If you own a company, don't you want top notch staff? Especially when it will cost you a considerable amount of money and work to hire a foreigner, you have to be sure that this person is up for the job. While there are many ways of gauging that, a university degree is an indication that the candidate at least meet the minimal academic requirement

To me, people who argue that are ones who want to live there but are in denial because they don't qualify

It's like challenging the advise of "smoking is hazardous to health", there people who denie that despite scientific medical proof of how bad smoking is

Just my $0.02