Indian Institutes of Technology
Founded in 1953, shortly after India achieved independence, the seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are a series of engineering- and technology-focused institutes of higher education. Though established by the Indian government, the IITs operate autonomously and set their own curricula. Entrance is based on the "IIT Joint Entrance Examination" (IIT-JEE) and is highly competitive, with an annual acceptance rate of just over 1%.
Despite their reputation for selectiveness and high national esteem, the IIT's face severe criticism. The IIT's place tremendous emphasis on examination scores and very little on learning. Students are taught by rote, and there is little to no emphasis on critical thinking, logical reasoning, or oral and written communication skills. According to Mohandas Pai, human resources chief for Infosys Technologies, a large tech company based out of Mysore, "The result is smart, well-educated people who can have trouble with such professional basics as working on a team or good phone manners."
Many of India's other educational institutions face even worse problems. Most Indian universities place the same emphasis on rote learning and test scores, and, unlike the IIT's, also lack such fundamentals as electricity and textbooks. As a whole, India faces a shortage, not of engineers, but of trained engineers. India produces 400,000 engineers annually, but it is estimated that only about a quarter of them are actually prepared to work in the professional sphere. Furthermore, many of those who are well-prepared to enter the work-force choose to do so in western nations, where they earn better pay and benefits for their skills. Indian corporations are wary increasing employee salaries, as the comparably low salaries paid to Indian engineers are precisely what give those companies their competitive edge.
An emerging response to the lack of trained individuals, and especially of trained individuals willing to work in India, seems to be an emerging trend in which India-based corporations retrain their employees after hiring. The for these companies cost is significant (e.g. $140 million annually for Infosys), but it also the only way to obtain a sufficient number of adequately trained workers.