taxpayers and training
Aruna Viswanatha -
Tuesday, July 15, 2008 12:01 PM
The Associated Press reported today on the status of a push by United States business groups to boost the number of students that go into science, math and engineering fields. If India has the problem of not enough quality seats for the students that want to go into them, the U.S. faces the inverse scenario of great institutes and not enough students that want to study at them. A handful of business and tech associations came together in 2005 to fix the problem with government assistance, and attract more students that their industry can employ down the line. The recent report grades the progress, but the prognosis is not so good. Three years ago, business leaders in the U.S. set a target of 400,000 new grads by 2015, but the number remain flat around 225,000 per year. One interesting piece of the debate, according to the AP story, revolves around whether or not the government should get involved. AP speaks to Accenture CEO William Green:
Some critics have called concerns from business about the number of
science graduates overblown and
self-serving. They have argued that if
there really were a pent-up demand for scientists, more students would
naturally move toward those fields — without massive incentives from
taxpayers.
But William Green, CEO and chairman of Accenture, a
giant global consulting company, called such criticisms "nonsense,"
adding the whole country benefits from competitive companies.
"This is on the top three CEO agendas of every company I know," Green told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Green said Accenture, which will hire about 58,000 people worldwide this year, will spend $780 million on training.
"I
feel like I can step up to the table and say I'm doing my part. Other
companies are doing the same thing," Green said. "What I'm suggesting
is I really could use more raw material. That's about having federal
leadership."
Not enough 'raw material' on one side of the world, and not enough quality to shape too much 'raw material' on the other. What should the Indian govt do on the latter? Post your thoughts below.