Communications and Society Program

Minds on Fire: Enhancing India's Knowledge Workforce

 

Minds on FireBy Richard P. Adler

A nation is empowered by its people. A people are empowered by their capabilities.  People’s capabilities are created by investments in their education, well-being and skills, and [by] providing them with opportunities for gainful productive employment.
-- Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (source:
www.indiaempowered.com/full_story.php?content_id=76329)

Today, India is ahead.  But it has to work very hard if it wants to keep this position.
-- Tom Friedman, The World is Flat

Minds on Fire: Enhancing India’s Knowledge Workforce offers practical solutions to India’s predicted shortage of skilled labor to keep up with the country’s fast growing economy. One suggestion from the participants of the 2007 Aspen India/ C&S Joint Roundtable on Communications Policy described in the report is to promote Learning 2.0 in India—open source learning made possible by the web.  The report contains a proposal for Knowledge Learning Centers within Special Economic Zones in India.

To read specific sections of the report, click on the table of contents below,
OR read the report in its entirety, in pdf format.

FOREWORD, Charles M. Firestone

MINDS ON FIRE: ENHANCING INDIA’S KNOWLEDGE WORKFORCE, Richard P. Adler

Introduction

A Very Short History of the Indian Economy

India’s IT Sector and the Looming Staffing Crunch

The Trouble with Higher Education

Improving Higher Education

A Larger Challenge

Technology-Based Initiatives

A Vision for Change

From Web 2.0 to Learning 2.0

The Open Courseware Movement

Beyond Courseware

Bringing Learning 2.0 to India

Roundtable Recommendations

Meetings with Government Ministers

Notes

APPENDIX

Proposal for Knowledge Learning Centers

Roundtable Participants

Members of the Open Courseware Consortium (July 2007)

Learning 2.0 Resources

About the Author

About the Aspen Institute India

About the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program