what is the difference between learning and understanding in the following sentence?

It is more important for students to understand ideas and concepts than it is for them to learn facts.

Understanding, as it is written in this sentence, is based on a wider knowledge of a subject. For example, if you understand sentence structure, you can then manipulate and create sentences from that knowledge. Whereas, if you only learn a few specific sentences, you know nothing of creating your own sentences and how to do it. Does this make sense? However, the two can be interchangeable in other contexts, this is only an explanation of sentence you have used.