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What did we learn?

Meeting with Ambassador Celeste 11 a.m. October 12, 2000

· Everyone now realizes the key issue in India is nurturing the human resource base.
· In the next 20 years south India will have the fastest economic growth rate after   coastal China.
· Higher education in India is widely recognized as not offering relevant education for   most occupations. Being based on the British education system, it does indeed educate   the elite very well while ignoring the masses.
· Ambassador Celeste assisted us by facilitating the scheduling of appointments with   USAID officials and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
· The Ambassador indicated that some of the ways ideas are spread in India today can   be attributed to: technology change and more efficient communications; better   infrastructure; a more open economy; and the fact that attitudes have started to   change as it is more widely recognized that education is the key to improvement. It is   important to know how to get and utilize education.

Meeting with Abid Hussain at 12:30 p.m. October 12, 2000

· He is a former Indian Ambassador to the US and ardent supporter of community   colleges. Currently he serves on several governmental committees with the most   important being the one reviewing and recommending changes to the Indian   constitution.
· He and Dr. Sartaj Mathur, former Minister for Education and Culture at the Indian   Embassy in Washington, will review CCID's materials and advise us on those funding   directions we ought to pursue.

Meeting with USAID

· AID does not fund most of the train-the trainer and workplace skills development   activities that CCID engages in. Issues such as human capacity building, women's   issues, increasing democracy are some of the preferred areas.
· AID continues to have reduced funding and creating options for new program expansion   is not feasible unless continuing programs are scaled back.
· A dramatic discussion on the value of technical training to assist infrastructure building   was given. The AID response was pleasant, but it is unlikely that new fundable   activities will be established at this time.
· Southern India has the highest respect for the value of education in the country.

Meeting with the Confederation of Indian Industry at 11 A.M. on October 13, 2000

· CII works to promote Indian industry, lobbies on behalf of industry concerns at the   state and national levels and participates in global networking by having partnerships in   90 countries.
· It is a developmental organization with 80% of its income coming from value added   sources and 20% from member dues.
· Training is needed by industry shop floor workers, supervisors and managers.
· Indian Technical Institutes (ITIs) are not current with needs of today's industrial   needs, curriculum is outdated and faculty are not current with business practices.
· The management team the delegation met with was interested in the specialized types   of training CCID can deliver as less technical training is locally available, i.e. lean   manufacturing, environment and advanced manufacturing skills.
· The delegation is to send more detailed descriptions of advanced training capabilities of   CCID.