A lot of American universities are more like what you describe that what is described in the OP. I remember my first day of CS class the prof said something like look to your left look to your right by the end of the year statistically speaking one of you won't be in this major any more.
They didn't say that to discourage people or to imply that they had some failure quota but to let people know that they couldn't expect to just show up and slide though any more like a lot of kids do in high school.
I would take a different interpretation in that for those who are failing, no need to take a long walk off a short pier or test their gliding skills off the roof of the dorm, its OK, no need to do something drastic if whats happening (failing) is occasionally a perfectly normal and expected part of life. Someone seems to do that about every semester, its always a downer for everyone else.
Well what do you expect if you dont specialise in the last two years? The Uk's A level system has some advantage in that you have mostly decided what to study at Uni by 16.
They didn't say that to discourage people or to imply that they had some failure quota but to let people know that they couldn't expect to just show up and slide though any more like a lot of kids do in high school.