Is it REALLY indentured Servitude if....?

A seven hour drive from Sudbury to Kingston today with Nature's STUPENDOUS tapestry of reds, golds, and greens that was the Autumnal Landscape formed the fitting backdrop to ponder a question that has been rolling around in my mind for some decades now.

I have often said to myself that the chief PRODUCT of a center of higher learning is the STUDENT. The inventions and the creations and the IP, valuable as they may be, are in the end only VEHICLES to train and develop the students in many facets of life. If the university were to think like a business it would be asking how it could derive VALUE from the putting out of this valuable product. After all, many industries have said to me that the REAL interest they have is in the graduating students who could become highly qualified and valuable members of their workforce one day. They still seek out the best because they realize that without the infusion of the latest understandings and talents they will fall behind and eventually be consumed by their competition. Oddly enough these same companies do not have that angst about the latest new TECHNOLOGIES comong out of the same university labs.

On the other side the STUDENTS come to universities trusting in the knowledge of those who are paid to develop them into the good professionals that they eventually become. They honestly believe that, armed with the experience of graduate studies they will be able to get better jobs and lead more satisfying lives.

Third parties such as recruiters etc. make a healthy living finding the best candidates for a given opening in industry. They hardly know the students as well as those who have taught them. But they serve a need in the marketplace to find for the companies the candidates that would be suitable for them to hire.

So I come to my question. If universities sought to properly market and "sell" their most valuable product - the student - would they be able to tap into a good revenue stream? Say for example (and I offer this only as ONE possible model) that universities were to go to their best "consumers" (the top ranked companies or the best local ones or some combination of that) and say to them "For a fee we will make sure that you get to interview the top 10 of our graduating class." What do you think they could command as a fee? My guess is that this number is large. Now they would have had to inform the incoming class that the condition of their acceptance is that the top 10 graduates would have to FIRST interview with the best industries (the ones they have chosen). Which student would rebell at that thought?

I know that we in Canada are VERY sensitive to anything that looks even VAGUELY like a required pre-commitment. We worry that this may be "coersive" in nature and we therefore eschew such activities claiming that this somehow keeps us pure. But my question is "IF two rational adults decide of their own free will to undertake this activity, both being not just willing but EAGER to do it, does this STILL constitute Indentured Servitude?" If so we ought to re-examne the sports scholarships that we so glibly hand out. We ought to re-examine several things that we do at universities such as undertaking contract work for industry and foreign exchanges of students etc. Surely if students WANT it and Industry WANTS it and the universities can realize a good revenue stream from it; it is at least worth THINKING about? As always your thoughts are welcomed.