By Javid Hassan
India’s launch of Chandrayaan-1 into space en route to the moon heralds a new chapter in its history by bracketing it with six other countries that have sent either manned or unmanned lunar missions. It is the third after Japan and China to join this exclusive space club.
For NRIs, keen on their children moving into the fixed educational groove, here’s an opportunity to think out of the box. Their inability to opt for courses other than medicine, dentistry, engineering and IT has created a situation in which the cost of these courses has also zoomed into space beyond the reach of the common man, while their market value is not proportionate to the cumulative cost of the course.
It is only lately they have realized that there are some new kids on the educational block, like biotechnology and business management, that are rewarding, both in terms of social and economic status. In this context it is necessary to scotch rumors circulating in Riyadh that CBSE has not recognized biotechnology in its curriculum. In fact, it introduced this course as an optional subject at the higher secondary level back in 2002.
Nine schools in Chennai alone offer this subject as one of the optional subjects. All of them have reported an encouraging response from the students.
Now, with India entering the space era, there is a need for taking a closer look at the new options that are available, especially as New Delhi is planning to establish at least 30 new central universities, of which 16 will be in some backward areas that do not have one. The other 14 are to be model universities with world class infrastructure. There will also be 330 new colleges in educationally backward districts.
Biotechnology has really taken off not only as a discipline in college textbooks but also has yielded fruit in terms of profit-making business enterprises. The success of the biotechnology industry has led to sustained economic growth in the developed nations like US, European countries and Canada. India is also fast emerging as a key player in biotechnology-related activities and investments. Currently, although the biotechnology market in India contributes only a two percent share in the global market, it is on the threshold of a colossal growth in the coming decade.
With the average R&D expenditure growing at more than 15 percent per year, biopharmaceutical majors worldwide are realizing that the time-consuming and expensive affair of drug discovery and development can be done easier and better in India, given its rich technical resource pool, the relative ease & attractive economics of recruiting large number of patients and the sheer diversity inherent in the country’s genetic texture.
Aerospace engineering is said to be enjoying a boom in the market with a growing demand for aeronautical engineers, especially in the maintenance section of civil aviation as airports are expanding and more and more airlines are entering the aviation sector. The launch of EDUSAT spacecraft has opened up new windows of opportunities in space technology that NRIs should watch out for on their radar screen. EDUSAT is the first Indian satellite built exclusively for serving educational needs.
At least 16 Indian satellites are circling the earth, giving support to telephone operators, broadcast outlets, weather forecasters and providing remote education and healthcare. The country also launched an Israeli spy satellite into space recently.
Among the other disciplines, clinical research deserves a closer look. The Indian clinical trials market stood $ 140 m. in 2006 and was growing at a CAGR of 40 percent for the last three years. In fact, India is fast emerging as a favored destination for clinical trials outsourcing, in view of the country’s advantages like a large pool of patients, faster patient recruitment, well trained English-speaking physicians and IPR protection, besides lower costs.
Over 100 pharmaceutical companies, including Fortune 100 companies such as Pfizer and Merck, are currently outsourcing clinical trials in the country.
Besides, India’s inherent advantage in IT skills helped in outsourcing of high-end activities like data management. All these advantages will drive the growth of Clinical Trial Outsourcing industry to scale up to $ 600m by 2010, according to available statistics.
Among the other emerging courses, Bangalore-based Altera, an IT firm, has launched Platform ASSP Replacement Infotainment System (P.A.R.I.S.) for automotive designers, OEMs developing infotainment, navigation, comfort and convenience, and drivers-assistance systems. Jointly developed with Gleichmann Electronics Research GmbH, the P.A.R.I.S. Platform dramatically eases the development of automotive in-cabin systems. The company will be demonstrating the P.A.R.I.S. Platform at the Convergence 2008 show at the Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan In the media sector, courses in TV, radio and newspaper journalism have gained increasing attention. The total mass media spend in 2007 was estimated at nearly $4 billion, which is less than 1 per cent of the global advertising market. But the growth trajectory has been on the upswing—from 10 and 12 per cent in early 2002 to over 20 per cent this year.
The IT sector continues to be a major attraction for women, as 38 percent of jobs in this sector are drawn from them. The reason for its growing popularity is that the duration of study is much shorter than that for medicine, while the pay package is better than that compared to the MBBS. Moreover, both MBBS and B.D.S. professions are no longer sought after as they once used to be, since the market faces a glut of doctors and dentists with these basic qualifications.
In Bangalore, for example, 60 percent of the dental seats have remained unfilled, forcing the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences to lower the bar for filling up the seats. As things stand, if one wants to study medicine or dentistry, he/she should pursue higher studies in these fields instead of seeking job opportunities after obtaining MBBS or BDS, which have become basic qualifications no longer in demand.
IT major Infosys has instituted, in collaboration with the National Institue of Advanced Studies (NIAS), a prize to encourage interest in mathematics. According to Infosys director T.V.Mohandas Pai, India’s market economy has created new impulses of growth and young mathematicians are in demand in areas where there is a need for creation of new models and algorithms. With India having signed a nuclear deal with the US for the production of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and with the launch of its satellite for the lunar mission, there will be a greater demand for mathematicians in different fields.
India is also emerging as one of the world’s biggest hubs for chip design, according to Poornima Shenoy, president, India Semiconductor Association. She said what gives India a competitive edge over others is the quality of its engineering talent.
Moreover, the country’s record in the protection of intellectual property (IP) is good. “We have had no infringement of IP since 1985. That’s a great record for any country.” This explains the growing investment in the IT sector.
The semiconductor industry, says Ganesh Guruswamy, country manager and Director, Freescale Semiconductor, will emerge as a major contributor to India’s GDP by 2015. He adds that there is a shortage of engineers possessing the right talent as global companies move design jobs to India, while Indian design services firms are expanding.
The Indian Semiconductor Association (ISA) estimates that engineering colleges are meeting only 20 percent of the industry demand for chip design engineers. “There is a demand-supply gap and the industry is looking for talented engineers who can work on cutting-edge designs.
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