Maybe universities would benefit from a formal programing lab discipline, like they have for physics and chemistry. One where you document what you are going to do, go into the lab and do it, and document what you concluded from it.
And yeah, finding bugs on code that was already there when you came can be an exercise.
Or just require CS students to take at least one lab science course. I started in the engineering program and switched to CS, but by then had already taken lab-based chemistry and physics. Those courses taught me more about “debugging” than any dedicated engineering or computer science course I took (and I did take the software engineering courses that were offered). In fact, at a reception dinner during graduation week I was seated at the same table as one of the deans, who asked if I had any recommendations for improving the program. I said that they should require students to take physics and he was shocked - what would that do for students??? I explained my reasoning and he understood what I was getting at. But I don’t believe they ever acted on my suggestion.
And yeah, finding bugs on code that was already there when you came can be an exercise.