In The News

Amid US Outsourcing Fears, India’s IT Firms Thrive

Patrick Thibodeau October 17, 2012
In his presidential campaigns, both 2008 and now, Barack Obama has blasted outsourcing and offshoring of US jobs. Such political attention unnerved India’s IT industry, which relies on skilled labor and large numbers of temporary work visas, particularly the H-1B for the US. That visa allows educated foreign workers with US employer sponsors to stay about six years and work in select technical...

Beyond Factory Floor: China’s Plan to Nurture Talent

Xu Liyan, Qiu Jing September 10, 2012
China is determined to evolve into a global hub for innovation. With climbing college enrollment and a R&D staff exceeding 1.5 million, the nation is reforming its higher-education system, hiring practices and immigration regulations; encouraging cooperation with industry; developing new majors in the sciences in areas like alternative energies and new-materials engineering; and offering...

India’s Broken Schools, Cloudy Future

Julissa Milligan, Sadanand Dhume May 9, 2012
India’s preponderance of youth has long been considered a “demographic dividend.” But a broken education system fails to equip graduates for jobs in a fast growing economy. Thanks to lopsided emphasis on elite schools and neglect of early education, India has fallen behind in competency in basic skills, along with flexibility, creativity and passion for lifelong learning. The country prepares...

Children of China's Future – Part II

Karen Eggleston, Jean Oi, Scott Rozelle, Ang Sun, Xueguang Zhou March 14, 2012
Inequality has many forms, most with insidious and tragic consequences for children. This two-part series examines the opportunity gap for children of wealthy urbanites in China and those of the rural poor. In the second and final article, Karen Eggleston and a team of faculty members and researchers with Stanford University focus on the plight of China’s rural poor and an 8-year-old boy. Like...

Childless by Choice

Joseph Chamie and Barry Mirkin March 2, 2012
Around the globe, more women and men are delaying childbirth, with many deciding against having children altogether. Economic recession, high unemployment rates, education and career ambitions contribute to the phenomenon. Among most developed nations, one in 10 women in their late 40s have no children, and in Italy and Switzerland, the childlessness rate approaches one in four women. The...

Through the Eyes of Asia’s Tiger Cubs

Mark L. Clifford February 20, 2012
Asia’s post–Cold War generation of young professionals have a decidedly optimistic outlook on the future – as revealed by the Asia’s Challenge 2020 essay competion organized by the Asia Business Council, Time magazine and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. Mark L. Clifford, executive director of the Hong Kong-based Asia Business Council, co-authored...

China: Hard Power at Home, Soft Power Abroad

Frank Ching February 8, 2012
China’s hard-edged regime, struggling to wield soft power, is concerned by the dominating influence of Western media and culture. China’s government is taking steps to remedy the problem, explains journalist Frank Ching. One success story is the establishment of more than 300 Confucius Institutes, many linked with universities, teaching Chinese language and culture in nearly 100 countries....