I was interested to hear from my eldest that they have started doing the collaborative assignments in university as well, for some units. She's one of the fast learners and in order to make sure her own grade didn't drop (she needs certain scores to be able to go onto a PhD and get the scholarship she needs) she ended up doing the lions share and giving a very simple task to the one who didn't seem to want to do the work anyway. I'm with you on this and see a very real issue with it.
Yes Universities often do these group projects and if you as an individual rely on high distinctions because of scholarship for example it becomes very difficult. If they use the Bell Curve Grading system it's even more complex.