The introductory part of this series stressed the close relationship between technological education/training, employment opportunities and competitiveness. Part 2 is devoted to India, as an example of a rising technological star with large population and high promises.
Unlike China and its manufacturing prowess, India has so far mainly specialised on the service part of the economy. For years now, call centers of many -mainly American- companies are operated in India. A good grasp of the English language, good IT skills and a number of open-thinking service companies led to an explosion that soon spread to the medical field, databases, programming and many other activities that could be undertaken at large distances from clients.
The skills that helped make this progress -do not forget that language, IT and medical skills are all a direct result of education and training- are now in short supply. Companies that set up operations in India are having the awkward problem of employee supply, with the extra twist of personnel that is not well enough educated to meet the new challenges and expectations. University degrees are not a guarantee for employers and foreign-educated scientists are not enough to fill the void. Read the rest of this entry »
