Jan 28th 2010 | DELHI | From The Economist
print edition
Each year India produces about twice as many engineering and
computing experts as the United States (counting those with bachelor’s degrees
or a Master’s in Computer Applications), but there is growing concern that
India’s tech workers are not as good as the country hopes. In a recent study,
Aspiring Minds, a testing company that
seeks to gauge students’ and recent graduates’ performance capabilities,
demonstrated that only 4.2% of India’s engineers are fit to work in a software
product firm. Furthermore, just 17.8% are employable by an IT services company,
even with up to six months’ training. These figures are even more alarming when
one considers the 25% figure for employability that has been bandied about since
2005, when
McKinsey released the results
of a survey of international companies.
Himanshu and Varun Aggarwal, the founders of Aspiring Minds,
are attempting to combat this growing issue. Their new test, the AMCAT, is an
affordable substitute to traditional standardized tests such as the Graduate
Record Examination (GRE) required by American universities. It provides
qualified applicants a method to catch employers’ attention, while allowing the
country’s IT firms a means to successfully recruit new employees. Even so, India
will need to overhaul many of its colleges if it is to make more of their
graduates employable.
Read the Economist article
“The Checklist Manifesto” is both a meditation on the growing
complexity of the world and a how-to book on coping with that
complexity. Atul Gawande argues that humanity is in danger of sinking
under the weight of knowledge, as scientists accumulate ever more
information and the professions splinter into minute varying
specialities.The Checklist Manifesto is a slim volume but it is packed with vivid writing, heart-stopping anecdotes and statistical surprises.
Read the Economist article
Read the Financial Times Article
