Roundtable Discussion on

"Managing Demand for People Skills"

by S. Sadagopan
Director Indian Institute for Information Technology, Bangalore (iiit-B), India

Bangalore, March 12, 2001

It is an honour to be invited to present my views in this roundtable discussion. I will confine myself to two issues (as requested by the organizers) - "Brain Drain" issue and the issue of shortage of IT teachers.

Let me first address the Brain Drain issue - to me it is a non-issue on which too much energy has been spent. The same media that used to write (in seventies) disparagingly about IIT's (Indian Institute of Technology) exporting all their products is praising IIT's today; the same people (IIT graduates) whom the politicians wanted to "charge" emigration fee earlier are welcome with a red carpet by the Indian society. The IIT-ians outside India have helped in creating the India brand; they are raising half-a-billion-dollar IIT fund! All that I would advise people is to read the work of Professor Anna Lee Saxenian (of University of California, Berkeley) that talks of "Brain Circulation" - great brains of whatever national origin will be traded in the global market for the best price. They will contribute wherever they are; so there is no need to discuss the "problem" which to me is "no problem" in the first place!

The second issue is close to my heart. IT (Information Technology) and BT (Biotechnology) are the two pillars of Knowledge Economy whose prime resource are human beings. One special aspect of the human resource need in the arena is the requirement of people with advanced degrees (in the Indian context a 4-year engineering / technology degree (B Tech / B.E.), a six-year double degree B Sc followed by MCA (Master of Computer Applications), an M Tech (2-year program post B Tech / B E) or a Ph D degree. Also there is a need for high quality production of these advanced degree holders in large enough numbers. All the three requirements - advanced degree, high quality and large quantity - when combined together pose a real challenge. Whatever little success India has attained in IT is due to our ability to meet the triple objectives reasonably well. Of course, we need to scale the figures in the next couple of years. Several countries around the world are addressing this critical issue. Korea is investing USD 10 Billion in technical education; Japan is investing even more. Singapore and China are planning a couple of billion dollars. Even an economically poor nation like India is talking of USD 2 Billion over the next three years.

My fear in India, at least, is that much of the money would go into buildings benefiting the contractors; still more money would go into computers benefiting IT vendors; my real fear is that very little would benefit teachers who are the "kingpins" of this new economy. I am a believer in all forms of e-education - smart classrooms, CBT, tutor programs, learning games, Web-based education etc., but I believe that all of them can only supplement and NOT teachers.

What should be done? I once again believe that the acute shortage of teachers is NOT due to salary differentials alone. There are large enough professionals who would love to teach if the teaching environment in India improves. It is overly Government controlled. What happened to Indian industry in general and IT industry in particular during 1991-2000 should happen to education in this decade - the disbanding of "Permit, Quota, License Raj". The teacher needs more empowerment. Universities, UGC and AICTE have become bureaucratic organizations that stifle innovation. What is needed is a thorough de-centralization right up to the individual college level, with Government playing only an enabling role. Efforts to encourage, not condescendingly allow, academic teachers to freely interact with industry is a must, if India is to sustain the leadership in Knowledge Economy.

In summary, it is important to realize the pivotal role played by teachers in the knowledge economy. Our own initial efforts at iiit-b in cultivating a system of constant interaction with teachers and addressing their specific training needs has been rewarding. We do hope that the policy makers at the highest level appreciate this dire need.