India has more maths & science graduates than US

New Delhi, Nov 5: On the same day US President Barack Obama's speech telling his country to overtake India and China in education made headlines, a study has revealed that more Indians study and graduate in Maths and Science than in US and Canada.

A study jointly done by Ernst and Young and Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) shows that based on the number of students graduating in maths and science India outperforms US, Europe and Japan.

On this parameter India ranks 17th while US ranks 48, Japan ranks 33 and China 38. Germany heads the list followed by Singapore and France.

"The number of science and engineering graduates is an important consideration. There are 690,000 students of science and maths graduating every year - much higher than China, Japan, the US and Europe," said DS Rawat, secretary general of Assocham said releasing the study on Thursday, Nov 5.

The study also shows that India has the second largest pool of scientists and engineers in the world and second largest number of trained doctors.

With as many as 389 universities, 14,169 colleges and 1,500 research institutions, India sees more than 2.3 million graduates and nearly 750,000 post-graduates every year.

The study has also draws attention to the need for reforms in the Indian education system.

For instance the study points out that the examination and assessment procedure which only tests the memorising capabilities of students needs to concentrate on problem solving abilities.

"If higher education in India is liberalised with massive expansion of professional education and more institutions under public-private initiatives, the system can be completely transformed to acquire well established global standards," Rawat noted.

OneIndia News