A thin sandwich degree involves multiple shorter placement or internship periods rather than an unbroken year.
Placement years are often offered by industrial companies as a route to recruiting graduate employees.
The concept was pioneered by Alexander Russell, a Scottish electrical engineer and educator, in the early 20th century.
Sandwich courses are widespread in France, and also exist in other countries such as Australia, Denmark (Royal School of Library and Information Science), India, Norway (optometry) and several countries in French-influenced Africa (Françafrique), including Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo, Ghana and Nigeria.
Alumni of the Newcastle Polytechnic Bachelor of Arts degree in "Design for Industry" include Rick Dickinson of Sinclair and Jony Ive of Apple.