Still fairly old, but newer than B&W: From Dust . Replace trainable animals with fluid physics and light hearted songs with didgeridoos, and it's kind of similar.
In the UK, yes (mostly). In our system, we've got further education (sixth form or college) which sits between high school and higher education (university). As well as providing A-level courses, colleges often provide more vocational courses that don't necessarily lead into higher education. For example, my local college has hairdressing and bricklaying courses.
Confusingly, some universities are also made up of colleges. I think this is a minority of universities, though, and anecdotally, seems to be the older ones (Oxford, Cambridge, etc)
DREDGE is great, and does overlap with Sunless Seas in some ways, but is nowhere near as story driven (or weird). That said, it's a lot easier/more forgiving, and has a simpler (and potentially more engaging) main gameplay loop.
I love the Sunless/Fallen London setting, and really wish Seas had some of the improvements of Skies, as I think I prefer the setting of Seas, but I've found it hard to go back to, having played Skies.
@ColdSilenceAtrophies
@feddit.uk