Source: Global Times
The Hindu, October 9 article, original title: India and China's Talent Competition: Drawing Lessons from China's Education Strategic Model The world's attention to China often focuses on common symbols of power: trade balance, massive infrastructure, and grand military parades. However, the most profound transformation, which is shaping the 21st century, is quietly taking place in China's classrooms and laboratories.
To understand the scale of this transformation, consider the following fact: In 1949, 80% of China's population was illiterate. According to an analysis by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, China now produces nearly 5 million science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates each year. By contrast, India, with its considerable talent pool, produces about 2.6 million such graduates annually.
This wave of human capital has become a fundamental resource in the modern world, and its formation is no accident but rather built upon the foundation of the nine-year compulsory education system officially established through legislation in 1986. It is also a long-term economic strategy aimed at ensuring that every Chinese citizen receives basic education, thereby creating a vast, well-educated talent pool and cultivating future scientists and engineers among them. But what is truly astonishing is how China strategically transforms these talents into a powerful innovation engine led by the state.
For many years, the Western world has viewed China's education as a pragmatic approach that prioritizes quantity over quality. This view is now seriously outdated and inaccurate. The leap in the quality of Chinese education comes from rigorous planning, which has become a reality through decades of concentrated investment.
Initiatives such as the "985 Project" and the "211 Project" have identified key universities, not only investing funds to build world-class laboratories but also offering competitive salaries to attract global academic talent and funding ambitious research projects. The results have been significant and rapid.
In 2022, a report published by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's National Institute of Science and Technology Policy confirmed the success of China's education strategy: for the first time, the number of papers from China in the top 1% of the most highly cited natural science academic papers surpassed the United States, ranking first globally. This is one of the key indicators for measuring future scientific research. Additionally, the 2023 Nature Index Annual Table ranked the Chinese Academy of Sciences as the top research institution in the natural sciences worldwide (in the 2025 Nature Index Research Leaders List, the Chinese Academy of Sciences continued to rank first globally and has held the top position on this ranking for 13 consecutive years - Editor's note).
A report released by the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University revealed the most impressive achievements of China's talent revolution: by 2025, China is expected to produce more than 77,000 STEM PhDs annually. This is not merely a growth in academic data; this "army of PhDs" is being directed toward China's key development areas. This synergy is achieved by China through connecting national industrial strategies directly with the academic ecosystem.
China's related national industrial plans clearly identify key high-tech fields such as artificial intelligence and electric vehicles, sending strong signals of talent demand to Chinese universities. In response, Chinese institutions adjust their research and enrollment directions to cultivate graduates with specific skills needed to realize the country's most critical industrial ambitions, thus achieving a perfect match between China's talent supply and strategic needs.
China's education strategy is also having a huge impact globally. China's leading position in these foundational technological fields not only brings economic advantages but also allows it to lead the global standards, norms, and ethical guidelines for the shared future of humanity. The "operating system" of the 21st century is being written, and its architects are increasingly coming from major Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. This means that the center of global innovation is undergoing a fundamental shift from the West to the East for the first time in centuries.
For India, this is not a distant geopolitical event, but a pressing and direct challenge. India is in a talent competition: despite our incredible demographic potential, we lack a coherent, ecosystem-wide strategic plan like China's.
India produces 2.6 million STEM graduates each year, which is a significant asset. However, we must face some sharp questions: Have we established research funding, created a venture capital ecosystem, and developed advanced manufacturing capabilities to make these talents productive within India? Have we done everything possible to motivate our own global diaspora to return to India and participate in domestic development?
China's experience tells us that India must recognize the undeniable power of the national mission of integrating education with industry and research goals. China has transformed its population into an unprecedented strategic asset. For India, the conclusion is clear and urgent: the time to develop its own strategic responses is not coming, but is right now. (Author: Jayant S. Mundle, translated by Wang Huicong)
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7559362881691730451/
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