Ellen Greaves, Ed.D., J.D., Executive Director, Professional Educators of North Carolina

LEARNING FROM INDIA:
How Education Policy Has Impacted India’s Rise as a Global Economic Power part 4

In previous articles, I shared an overview of our delegation’s trip to India and some of our observations about the nature of education in India. In this article I will describe what we learned from the high-tech companies we visited and, in the final article in this series, I will set out our suggestions for how North Carolina can learn from India to ensure that we have the very best education system for our children.

The typical pattern of growth in developing countries replicates our own country’s economic development from agrarian to manufacturing and then, possibly, to a knowledge-based economy that produces innovative products and services. China’s growth can be seen as replicating this pattern, focusing on manufacturing in this early part of the 21st century. India, however, has chosen a different route. Seventy percent of India’s population lives in rural areas, which are agrarian, and most live on less than $1 a day. India’s economic growth (estimated this year to be 8%) has come as a result of its emergence as a knowledge-based economy.

Some Americans have become aware of India’s role in technology through Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat. Others have found support centers for U.S. products staffed by English-speaking people with Indian accents. Most Americans probably have no idea how much U.S. knowledge-based companies rely on the support of Indian technology workers. Increasingly, companies have turned to Indian workers to staff call centers performing tasks in market research, direct sales, and staffing 24-hour help centers. We visited two such call centers. Those who work in these call centers are chosen because they are college graduates; have accents that are more easily understood by those in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the U.S; and they are capable of continuous learning and problem solving. They are young college graduates who represent the growing middle class of India, with incomes in the mid-$20,000 range.

Looking out toward fort from Taj Mahal, Agra, India

An increasing number of U.S. accounting firms, using the Internet and macro formats in readily available software, use highly trained Indian workers to prepare tax forms for U.S. customers. U.S. hospitals will email x-rays to India for analysis and diagnosis. We read with increasing frequency that U.S. technology companies are reducing the size of their U.S. staffs and increasing the size of their offices in India.

We visited a CISCO office complex in Bangalore. CISCO’s chief of Indian operations told us that his company was unable to get a sufficient number of skilled employees in the Silicon Valley in the mid-1990s. They had also had good success hiring employees from India with strong engineering and math/science backgrounds who had become integral to the functions of CISCO’s San Jose office’s functions. CISCO first began their venture into India by outsourcing work. When they had developed sufficient relationships with Indian technology companies, CISCO opened an office in Bangalore; now CISCO has several offices in Bangalore and throughout India. What was emphasized often in the CISCO presentation was that the company came to India first because there was a sufficient availability of talent. Later, in its recovery from the dot-com bust in 2001, CISCO also realized that there was a significant cost advantage to locating its offices and hiring employees in India. We learned that CISCO is planning a $1.1 billion investment in India, its largest single investment anywhere. Another oft-cited characteristic of Indian employees is that they have a commitment to a sound work ethic and lifelong learning.

Students performing traditional dance, Salwan Public School, Gurgaon, India

Part of our group visited Tata Consulting, which is a part of the Tata Group, India’s first $2 billion company. The group employs 250,000 people worldwide. The group has 160 offices in 34 countries, with 51 offices in the U.S. In 2004, 59% of Tata Consulting’s revenues came from the Americas (versus 12% from India). Of their 60,000 employees, Tata Consulting hired 2,000 from outside India, most from the U.S. Their workforce consists of 23% women and represents 53 different nationalities. Tata’s HR director reported that there was a disconnect between college curricula and the requirements of their types of jobs, despite their regular dialogue with college faculties. As a result, they have established an extensive education program for their employees that involves not only technological skill development but also the development of multi-cultural skills and language competencies. Tata is a multinational company that places a high value on employees who have not only the technological skills but also the ability to work adeptly anywhere in the world.

Carving detail from Taj Mahal, Agra, India

Another part of our group visited Infosys, a technology consulting company that has 46,000 employees and clients around the world. At Infosys, a job applicant seeking an interview must have scored 65 or better on the test taken at the end of junior high in addition to doing well on the college admission exam. These are the threshold requirements, after which college grades are considered. Infosys looks at more than academic performance; they are looking for a candidate’s “learnability.” Our group was told that “learnability” is the ability to derive new solutions from specific circumstances and apply that knowledge in solving new problems. Infosys plans to hire 15,000 additional employees in this next year. They expect over a million applicants.

One presenter noted that Indians believe that if one works hard, learns, and develops valuable skills, one’s life will improve. We found that this value dominates the culture of India-based companies as well.