But this is changing, says Kathryn Parker, National Champion for the Engineering Development Trust's The Year In Industry programme, which provides paid work placements for students, before or during their degree course.
A university says... Dr Stephen Dorling, meteorologist and director of the year in industry programme, University of East Anglia There's a need for people who have awareness and subject knowledge right across the board of this discipline.
"We don't feel much doom and gloom," said Danielle Chapman, director of publishing industry programmes at Chicago's Office of Tourism and Culture.
1.57pm: a few choice claims: Amongst numerous claims made by Jana Bennett director, BBC Vision, the BBC makes this declaration: "Overseas Gifts - As Director of BBC Vision Ms Bennett was required to travel abroad to meet executives from other parts of the industry, for programme acquisition and to discuss co-operation on international programme projects.
Few had heard of the Toyota Production System (TPS) until three academics in the car industry study programme run by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) wrote a book in 1991 called "The Machine that Changed the World".
By the second world war, it was common practice for Battersea students to undertake a year out in industry, a programme formalised when the college became Battersea Technology College in 1956 and maintained when it moved to its Guildford campus and became the University of Surrey in the late 1960s.
The research is funded by the Australian Research Council through its industry Linkage Programme, 15 which aims to promote collaboration between researchers and industry groups to generate rigorous research with practical implications for Australian society.
Other publishers began work with writers' development agency Spread the Word and revitalised industry-wide programme Equip, from the Publishers Association.
This business rationale to corporate responsibility is now at risk of being lost, argues Vikas Goswami, head of Godrej Industries' sustainability programme.
It has provided seed capital for an industry-led programme to train 150m workers by 2022, the 75th anniversary of the country's independence, focusing on the 20 economic sectors in which it expects high growth.
It has a broad range of flexible-work programmes, which gives it one of the lowest rates of employment turnover in its industry 8% a year for full-time workers, compared with 19% across the industry.Simple programmes can be surprisingly cost-effective.
