China produces more engineering graduates than India, US: Study

"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 4
0 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 Under Graduate Express

One of the premier varsities in the country, University of Delhi (DU) attracts students, not merely from the Capital but from other states as well. T
he university offers about 30 courses at undergraduate (UG) level through more than 61 colleges spread across the city. We profile some of the prominent colleges falling under the North Campus and South Campus of the university.

North Campus

Two of the most well-known colleges of DU, St Stephen's and Hindu are located on the opposite sides of the same road and offer UG degrees courses in arts, science and commerce. The former is popular for its academics as well as extra-curricular activities. Economics (Hons), History (Hons) and English (Hons) are the most sought after courses of St Stephen's. Besides, the college is popular for its social service and dramatics society as well. On the other hand, Hindu stands out for its Economics (Hons), B Com (Hons) and B Sc (Hons) Statistics programmes.

In a fast-changing world of economic and commercial realities, the Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) is considered among the best to pursue a programme in the commerce stream. When asked about the expected cut-off for 2005-06 academic session, the officiating college principal D K Mittal said: "The cut-offs are totally dependent on Board results. The last year's cut-off, however, was 92.75 per cent for B Com (Hons) and 92.5 per cent for Economics (Hons) in the 'A' category. It had gone up by 1.5 per cent compared to 2003 and notably, the first list was our final cut-off list too."

Ramjas College, which boasts of providing holistic education that goes beyond achieving academic excellence and vocational training, offers not merely UG and PG courses in arts, commerce and sciences, but a few short-term, add-on courses as well. Talking about the popular courses, the college principal Rajendra Prasad said: "All our courses are high in demand. A few of them include B Com Hons, Maths (Hons), Economics (Hons), English (Hons), B Sc (Gen) Environmental Sciences and History (Hons)." The add-on courses are available in peace and conflict resolution, human rights and emerging world order, India in the era of globalisation, women and empowerment. The college in addition, offers part-time courses in French, German, Italian, Spanish and Russian.

Hansraj offers UG degree courses in all three disciplines science, arts and commerce. Apart from the conventional degree courses, it offers part-time courses in French and German. The principal of the college S R Arora said: "Hansraj is popular for its commerce, economics and science departments. Our results speak for it. Last year, the commerce topper of DU was from our college."

Kirori Mal College, popularly called KMC too has made its mark in science, arts and commerce. The KMC principal Bhim Sen Singh said: "We receive the largest number of applications for courses like Economics (Hons), History (Hons), English (Hons) and Physics (Hons). Besides academics, our college is known for its excellence in extra-curricular activities."

Miranda House, a premier women's institution in DU and one of the oldest as well, offers courses in science and arts. The college boasts of having a long tradition of liberal education, which has produced women who have excelled in various professions. According to the acting principal of the college, R Usha, "Going by the records of last year, the college appears to be quite popular for its courses in economics, mathematics, political science, sociology, philosophy and geography."

Daulat Ram College, another women's college in north campus, offers courses in all three disciplines. The college is known for its science courses.

South Campus

Over the last few years, the emergence of the South Campus (SC) as a student-friendly campus has been phenomenal. Some of the DU's premier colleges such as Lady Shri Ram (LSR), Gargi, and Sri Venkateshwara are part of the SC.

According to the director of SC, Deepak Pental, "Major infrastructural changes taking place in the SC include the establishment of biotech centre, which is nearing completion, to boost applied science, construction of hostels and two auditoriums." Pental said that the courses to look out for in the South Campus' colleges include life sciences, information technology (IT), financial study and business economics.

Coming to some of the premier colleges in the SC, LSR stands out among the colleges of DU for a variety of reasons. A college of liberal arts and social sciences, LSR has famed alumni such as Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga and Harmala Gupta, founder of CanSupport - the cancer support group to name a few.

LSR offers courses in BA Integrated (Pass Course), BA Honours, B Com Honours, B Sc Honours (Statistics), MA and M Com. Keeping in tune with the emerging market, LSR offers two professional courses, BA honours in Journalism and Bachelor of Elementary Education (B EI Ed) besides various diploma courses. In fact, the BA integrated (pass course) is one of the most prestigious courses of this college, as it provides a rich combination of subjects. Honours courses in BA and B Com are available in Commerce, Economics, English, Hindi, History, Mathematics, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Sanskrit and Sociology.

The principal of LSR, Meenakshi Gopinath said: "Apart from the regular courses, we have several short-term certificate courses which are adding value to the education imparted. If we provide a context for learning and enable our students to be life-long learners, no matter the area of work they go into, they would have got the tools of learning and re-learning. The important thing about the 21st century is that you have to continuously re-skill yourself."

Gargi is one those colleges in the SC which will make you realise the advantage of add-on courses, the reach of information technology and the boon of research activity. The interdisciplinary courses coupled with its add-ons are already a talk of the 'college of potential' and is one of the few colleges of DU which is offering the largest range of subjects in arts, science and commerce streams.

Setting a trend and following it up successfully is what Gargi is all about. The commerce department is tying up with Manipal University to offer courses in business management and various specialisations under it through satellite communication. According to principal of Gargi, Meera Ramachandran, "The college is in the process of constructing a multi-disciplinary research wing, which will be functional by the start of the forthcoming academic session."

Established in 1961, the Sri Venkateshwara offers 21 UG courses and a special bouquet of four vocational add-ons. For the past 12 years, the college has the proud distinction of producing toppers in Biochemistry.

According to the principal of Sri Venkateshwara, A Sankara Reddy, "Our's is the first college under DU to have successfully implemented online admission and payment of fees, and we are all set to offer BSc (H) in Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, certificate course in Financial Mathematics, IT courses and an IAS Study Centre from the 2005-06 academic session."

Admission process in DU

Working on the theory of, 'Change is life and life is change', DU made some revolutionary changes in the admission process related to UG courses for the academic session 2004-05.

The application process consisted of a main application form called Intelligence Character Reader or ICR alongwith information related to different colleges, courses offered by them and last year's cut-off list. Based on the lines of Optical Mark Reading or OMR application forms the ICR made a small beginning to streamline the admission process last year.

The filled ICR forms were collected, scanned and processed everyday. At the time of submission, students were given the carbonless copy of the original form in the form of a receipt, which enabled them to keep track of the colleges and programmes they had opted for. Scanned data was sent to 61 DU-colleges and allied colleges in CDs, and colleges and institutions without computers were provided hard copies of the merit list.

The new dean for students' welfare, Satinder K Vij said: "The ICR initiative will be carried forward. The effort now will be to make it more user-friendly. Besides, if possible, we would like to make it less expensive."

Indian Graduate Student Association at North Carolina State University

India is unique motley of various foods, festivals and languages. When anyone nourished in such a wonderful land has to leave it suddenly, he/she is sure to feel the creation of a huge void in his life; a huge social void. Imagine living without all the Indian food, without any of the Indian festivals (except Christmas), without other Indians with whom you could talk at least in our National language (if not your mother tongue). It is not that Maitri gives all of these, but it helps you adjust. It can be called an Indian students' ambassador in NC State. To put it formally, Maitri is the Indian Graduate Student Association at North Carolina State University.

We are a group of enthusiastic people who love bringing the multifaceted and dynamic face of India. Maitri becomes a part of every Indian student's life the moment he/she sets foot on the Raleigh-Durham International Airport. It is our responsibility to safely transport you from the airport to NC State campus, to 'little India'. 'Avery Close', 'Champions Court' and 'Colonial Arms' colonies consist of this 'little India'. We would also provide you with an accommodation which you can share with some current resident "for free" till you find your own apartment. But without worries you will get an apartment in 'little India'. Later you will also be oriented about the functions and benefits of Maitri, places in Raleigh and Cary an Indian must know, and much more.

We are simply a student body that loves to volunteer to make you feel at 'home'. So understanding the importance of mid terms and final exams of all the majors, we organize events like Freshers' Party, Diwali and Holi: just getting a little spice of India. Not to miss, you would also love to be a part of sports events and potluck we organize so that we can get together and come to know the fellow Indians better. To put it short, Maitri is by Indians and for Indians, irrespective of whether the Indians are new fish or old fish in American waters. It remains committed to the welfare of Indians at this university.

Gaduate Council Demands for NATIONAL POLICY for GRADUATE'S People.

Graduate Council President Mr. Kali Shanker demands to Government of India to make a National Policy for GRADUATE'S people. Please support to Mr. Kali Shanker. Contact Now 09935072251 or graduatecouncil@gmail.com