If academia and industry were two relatives at a wedding,

they would keep walking past each other

with polite nods

and secret judgments.

Both pretend they are “on the same side.”

Both believe they are “doing their best.”

Both think the other side “doesn’t get it at all.”

Students stand in the middle —

like children caught between parents

who don’t talk

but expect the child to magically understand both.

This absence of bridges is not an accident.

It is a superiority complex on both ends.

________________________________________

Scene 1: The Professor Who Has Never Seen a Real Workplace

A professor teaching “Management”

has never managed anything

except maybe the class attendance sheet

and a notoriously difficult departmental colleague.

He teaches “Industry Ethics”

to students who will join workplaces

he has only seen on YouTube.

He teaches “Entrepreneurship”

without ever negotiating rent,

paying salaries,

or tasting business failure.

He speaks confidently —

because academia rewards theory fluency,

not real-world exposure.

Students admire the clarity,

but later discover the gap.

________________________________________

Scene 2: The Industry Manager Who Thinks Teachers Are Soft

A senior manager at a manufacturing firm says,

“Academics don’t understand reality.”

He forgets that academics produce

the very humans

industry later hires.

He believes industry is superior

because it deals with “real pressure.”

He doesn’t realise teachers deal with

100 different emotional ecosystems every day —

adolescence, ambition, anxiety, entitlement.

Pressure is different,

not weaker.

But ego sees differences

as hierarchies.

________________________________________

Scene 3: The Mutual Distrust Dance

Industry says:

“Academia is outdated.”

Academia says:

“Industry is shallow.”

Industry says:

“Teachers don’t know what we need.”

Academia says:

“You people only want ready-made labour.”

Industry says:

“Syllabus is useless.”

Academia says:

“You never contribute to changing it.”

Both are right.

Both are wrong.

Both refuse to talk.

So the gap becomes a canyon.

________________________________________

Scene 4: The Global Parallel — Germany

A German automotive professor admits,

“We create brilliant engineers…

who have never opened an actual engine.”

His counterpart in a car company says,

“We have brilliant engineers…

who cannot explain the science behind their work.”

Both realise the same truth:

The disconnect is universal.

The consequences are local.

________________________________________

Why Does This Gap Exist?

1. Academia Protects Its Intellectual Pride

Professors believe knowledge is higher than practice.

Concepts > experience.

Theory > operations.

Research papers > factory floors.

It’s a pride built over centuries —

beautiful, but blind.

2. Industry Protects Its Practical Arrogance

Managers believe “real work” only happens

where there is money, pressure, deadlines, and KPIs.

They look at academicians as soft.

Academicians look at them as crude.

Both misunderstand each other.

3. No Incentive to Collaborate

Syllabus committees don’t reward industry input.

Industry doesn’t get business benefits from universities.

Collaboration becomes charity,

not strategy.

4. Outdated Regulations

Umpteen committees, approvals, forms, MoUs —

academia built a bureaucracy

that exhausts industry before collaboration begins.

5. Misaligned Language

Academia speaks in:

frameworks, paradigms, literature, pedagogy.

Industry speaks in:

revenue, cost, throughput, customer, growth.

Same world.

Different dictionaries.

6. Fear of Exposure

Faculty fear being “found lacking” in practical skills.

Industry fears being judged for imperfect processes.

Both avoid vulnerability.

Both avoid bridges.

________________________________________

Scene 5: The Student Lost in Translation

A fresh graduate enters an interview.

The interviewer asks,

“Tell me what you actually know.”

The student replies,

“I know what I was taught.”

Two sentences.

One tragedy.

The student is not unprepared.

The system is.

________________________________________

The Emotional Underbelly

This gap hurts everyone,

but students bleed the most.

They have academic vocabulary

but not workplace sensibility.

They have degrees

but not direction.

They have confidence

but not exposure.

Academia dreams of “industry-ready graduates.”

Industry dreams of “plug-and-play employees.”

Neither dream comes true

because both live in their individual bubbles.

Students stand outside both bubbles

with a CV and confusion.

________________________________________

Scene 6: The Honest Confession (from Both Sides)

A professor says at a seminar:

“I don’t know what industry wants.”

A manager replies:

“I don’t know what you teach.”

Both laugh.

Both sigh.

Both look away.

This is the soft heartbreak of the bridge that never gets built.

________________________________________

Who Pays the Price?

1. Students

Biggest victims.

They learn theory for three years

and adjust to reality for five.

2. Industry

Gets workforce with degrees,

not readiness.

3. Academia

Loses relevance year after year.

4. Society

Loses innovation potential.

________________________________________

Underbelly Essence

The absence of industry–academia bridges

is not caused by incompetence.

It is caused by ego.

Academia looks down on industry.

Industry looks down on academia.

Both think the other is missing something essential.

Both are right.

Both are wrong.

Both are stubborn.

And until humility enters both rooms,

the gap will remain a canyon,

students will continue falling through,

and the dream of a seamless talent ecosystem

will stay exactly where it has been for 40 years —

in PowerPoint slides and wishful speeches.