China produces more engineering graduates than India
18 Mar, 2007 - Times of India
China is "racing ahead" of both the United States and India in producing graduates with advanced engineering and technology degrees and in its ability to perform basic research, according to a new study.
The trend is part of a complex picture that challenges popular wisdom and sheds new light on how the United States and its two emerging Asian rivals - China and India -- may compete for the technical talent that will underlie future jobs and industries, according to the findings in a Duke University-authored article.
Duke authors Vivek Wadhwa, the University's Executive in Residence, Gary Gereffi, Ben Rissing and Ryan Ong say that China leads the other two countries in producing master's and doctoral degrees.
Looking beyond these statistics, the authors have examined how the situation is affected by the quality of Indian and Chinese graduates, international job marketability, salary deflation and unemployment.
According to a release of the Pratt School of Engineering, the research work has shown that producing more undergraduate engineers alone will not enable the United States to protect its engineering jobs from the kind of outsourcing that has occurred in other fields. "It is not deficiencies in American workers or the availability of skills in other countries that are driving companies abroad. America needs to find ways to keep critical research and design activities that lead to technology innovation at home," the authors say, adding the remedies for preserving US competitiveness need to be based on more fact and research".
In the United States, close to 60 per cent of engineering PhD degrees awarded annually are currently earned by foreign nationals, according to data from the American Society for Engineering Education. Indian and Chinese students are the dominant foreign student groups with data for 2005 showing that 30 per cent of all Chinese students studying abroad returning home after their education, and this number is steadily increasing. "The bottom line is that China is racing ahead of the United States and India in its production of engineering and technology PhDs and in its ability to perform basic research."India is in particularly bad shape, as it does not appear to be producing the numbers of PhDs needed even to staff its growing universities," the study notes even while making the point that overall immigrants are increasingly fuelling the growth of US engineering and technology businesses.
Of these immigrants groups, Indians are leading the charge in starting new businesses, and Chinese create the most intellectual property. India and China are the top off shoring destinations, with Mexico in third place.
The top reasons survey respondents cited for going offshore were salary and personnel savings, overhead cost savings, 24/7 continuous development cycles, access to new markets, and proximity to new markets.
In the realm of workforce issues, the study has shown that surprisingly, 75 per cent of respondents said India had an adequate to large supply of well-qualified entry-level engineers. Fifty-nine percent said the United States had an adequate supply, whereas 54 per cent said this was the case in China.
CIDCO has planned a host of ancillary services around the airport to ensure connectivity and will make it reachable from downtown South Mumbai in 40 minutes.
"Mainly because CIDCO has planned its connectivity, the new airport is likely to be reachable from any part of Mumbai in 40 minutes" he said.
"CIDCO has plans to connect the new airport by hover craft to nearby areas.... travel time to South Mumbai will be 30 minutes".
"CIDCO will take up a rail link from Mankhurd to the airport beyond what MMRDA (another government development agency) has planned connecting other areas of the city," the top CIDCO official said.
Also, with the Maharashtra Transharbour Link Road expected to come up from Sewri to Nava Sheva, a 15-km stretch will be built to connect the line to the new airport, he said.
The new aviation hub's unique selling points will be "a state-of-art passenger handling services between the two runways to enable viewers watch landings and take-offs from both sides through glass panels," Kapoor said.
"Also, if need be and it comes to the crunch a third runway can be built. We have the land."
The trend is part of a complex picture that challenges popular wisdom and sheds new light on how the United States and its two emerging Asian rivals - China and India -- may compete for the technical talent that will underlie future jobs and industries, according to the findings in a Duke University-authored article.
Duke authors Vivek Wadhwa, the University's Executive in Residence, Gary Gereffi, Ben Rissing and Ryan Ong say that China leads the other two countries in producing master's and doctoral degrees.
Looking beyond these statistics, the authors have examined how the situation is affected by the quality of Indian and Chinese graduates, international job marketability, salary deflation and unemployment.
According to a release of the Pratt School of Engineering, the research work has shown that producing more undergraduate engineers alone will not enable the United States to protect its engineering jobs from the kind of outsourcing that has occurred in other fields. "It is not deficiencies in American workers or the availability of skills in other countries that are driving companies abroad. America needs to find ways to keep critical research and design activities that lead to technology innovation at home," the authors say, adding the remedies for preserving US competitiveness need to be based on more fact and research".
In the United States, close to 60 per cent of engineering PhD degrees awarded annually are currently earned by foreign nationals, according to data from the American Society for Engineering Education. Indian and Chinese students are the dominant foreign student groups with data for 2005 showing that 30 per cent of all Chinese students studying abroad returning home after their education, and this number is steadily increasing. "The bottom line is that China is racing ahead of the United States and India in its production of engineering and technology PhDs and in its ability to perform basic research."India is in particularly bad shape, as it does not appear to be producing the numbers of PhDs needed even to staff its growing universities," the study notes even while making the point that overall immigrants are increasingly fuelling the growth of US engineering and technology businesses.
Of these immigrants groups, Indians are leading the charge in starting new businesses, and Chinese create the most intellectual property. India and China are the top off shoring destinations, with Mexico in third place.
The top reasons survey respondents cited for going offshore were salary and personnel savings, overhead cost savings, 24/7 continuous development cycles, access to new markets, and proximity to new markets.
In the realm of workforce issues, the study has shown that surprisingly, 75 per cent of respondents said India had an adequate to large supply of well-qualified entry-level engineers. Fifty-nine percent said the United States had an adequate supply, whereas 54 per cent said this was the case in China.
CIDCO has planned a host of ancillary services around the airport to ensure connectivity and will make it reachable from downtown South Mumbai in 40 minutes.
"Mainly because CIDCO has planned its connectivity, the new airport is likely to be reachable from any part of Mumbai in 40 minutes" he said.
"CIDCO has plans to connect the new airport by hover craft to nearby areas.... travel time to South Mumbai will be 30 minutes".
"CIDCO will take up a rail link from Mankhurd to the airport beyond what MMRDA (another government development agency) has planned connecting other areas of the city," the top CIDCO official said.
Also, with the Maharashtra Transharbour Link Road expected to come up from Sewri to Nava Sheva, a 15-km stretch will be built to connect the line to the new airport, he said.
The new aviation hub's unique selling points will be "a state-of-art passenger handling services between the two runways to enable viewers watch landings and take-offs from both sides through glass panels," Kapoor said.
"Also, if need be and it comes to the crunch a third runway can be built. We have the land."
