Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Investing In Their Future

Want to know why countries like India and China are moving up to challenge even the strongest Western economies, why they'll soon surpass us? This item from the journal Nature gives you a good idea:

India's prime minister Manmohan Singh has announced unprecedented funding for science education and research, saying it is a top priority for his government. He has announced a range of schemes to attract students and replenish government agencies' shrinking pool of scientific personnel.
“We are planning to fund 30 new Central Universities, five new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, eight new Indian Institutes of Technology, and 20 new Indian Institutes of Information Technology,” Singh said. In the next five years, he added, India will also be launching 1,600 polytechnics, 10,000 vocational schools and 50,000 skill-development centres. One million schoolchildren will receive science innovation scholarships of 5,000 rupees (US$130) each over the next five years, and 10,000 scholarships of 100,000 rupees per year will go to those enrolling on science degree courses.


Discipline-specific education programmes will be launched in strategic sectors such as nuclear and space sciences “to capture talent at the school leaving stage itself”.

Pretty obvious, isn't it? They're investing in their future and, among nations, that's a very competitive and strategic matter.

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