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| Thursday, September 25, 2008
“Private colleges drive IT growth”
Firms use their bright, though poorly trained, engineering graduates to sell their services
NEW CHAPTER: Governor Surjit Singh Barnala and Vels University Chancellor Ishari K. Ganesh at the inauguration of the university on Wednesday.
Chennai: Recent research shows that one of the major reasons for the Indian software success story is the growth of private engineering colleges, despite the patchy quality of education they offer, N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu, said on Wednesday.
He was speaking at the inauguration of Vels University by Governor Surjit Singh Barnala here. Citing the research of Carnegie Mellon University’s Ashish Arora and Surendrakumar Bagde, Mr. Ram said their “surprising conclusion [was] that it’s not so much the IITs that explain the success. It is the private engineering colleges started with uneven quality which have made a huge…tremendous contribution to the software success story.”
In their paper, ‘The Indian software industry: the human capital story,’ the researchers analysed data from 14 Indians States. They catalogued when and how each State opened up its technical education system to private players, and the direct impact on its software success. Despite their observation that “many of these new engineering colleges are of poor quality, with inexperienced teachers and weak physical infrastructure,” Arora and Bagde hold that India’s leading software firms have managed to use their bright, though poorly trained, engineering graduates to sell their services successfully.
The leaders of the software industry are Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra, all of which are also pioneers in private engineering education, and the researchers say this offers pointers for others in India and abroad. “Policymakers in many countries and regions, anxious to have their own high-tech success, are only too willing to swallow the nostrum that to get high-tech, one needs some technology parks, a couple of technology incubators, venture capitalists to catalyze the reaction and the odd government bureaucrat to smooth the way….But that is not why the Indian software industry succeeded. Instead, the Indian software success story is a simpler one of investing in human capital and allowing the entrepreneurial energies of Indians a freer reign,” says the paper.
Mr. Ram hailed Vels University chancellor Ishari Ganesh as one among that tribe of under-appreciated educational entrepreneurs, who have not only propelled India’s software success but also brought opportunities to thousands of young people with the mantra of “excellence plus access.”
Inaugurating the university, Mr. Barnala spoke of the need to draw more youth into higher education.
Courtesy: The Hindu
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