India Praised for Raising Bar on Learning

Lessons to Be Learned: A report by the Kauffman Foundation suggests the U.S. should take a cue from India’s success at employee training. India, which is neck and neck with China for the title of the world’s fastest-growing economy, overcame the deficiencies of its education system to produce a technologically sophisticated and globally influential economy. It did so by “perfecting the best practices of Western companies and integrating them through innovative workforce training and development programs,” according to the July 23 report. Conducted by Duke University researchers, the report, “How the Disciple Became the Guru,” praises India’s senior corporate executives for using workforce development as a tool that has “dramatically improved productivity and performance.”
The study says India has “in essence, developed a surrogate education system by helping to create, for a variety of industries, skilled labor pools capable of handling very complex work.” The results have been strong enough to suggest that India may now be the model upon which U.S. companies should base their own learning and development initiatives, the report concludes.