Implications of China and India’s expanding higher education

By Geoff Maslen. China and India together represent more than 35% of the global workforce and each country is seeking a transition from a low-skill equilibrium to high-skill ecosystems – although India will continue to co-exist with large numbers of lower-skilled jobs – according to David Finegold.
Speaking at a conference in Adelaide organised by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research late last month, the noted Rutgers University senior vice-president for lifelong learning presented contrasting descriptions of how China and India were tackling the manifold problems facing both Asian nations. Finegold used this to point to the implications their growth and rapidly expanding higher education systems had for America, Europe and Australia. Historically, China and India had been in a low-skill equilibrium with a large majority of unskilled workers and few jobs available for graduates, he said. Today, that state had been destabilised by globalisation, and a growing percentage of the population wanted to move along a high-skill path although many were denied access.