The Chinese government in recent years has given unprecedented attention to the development of talent, hoping to combat emerging development issues and maintain the Chinese growth engine. The government's plans are a blueprint for developing a highly skilled national work force within the next 10 years. Among the goals is the transformation of China from a manufacturing hub to a world leader in innovation – a grand objective. One step is to increase the pool of highly skilled workers, to 180 million by 2020 from the current 114 million. Another is to ensure that by 2020, 20 percent of the work force has had a college education. That would be 195 million people.
The investment in education will expand the middle class in China and will increase the consumption of goods and services from all over the world.
For the past 30 years, 225 million migrant workers have made China into a world-manufacturing powerhouse. The same principle will apply: nearly 195 million college graduates by 2020 will certainly change China and the world. This is a positive change, not only for China but also for the United States, Europe and Japan. The investment in education will expand the middle class in China and will certainly increase the consumption of goods and services imported from all over the world.
Also, China for the past 30 years has sent 2.5 million students overseas, mainly to developed countries. Nearly two-thirds of them are still in these countries, and are contributing to their work forces rather than China's. Some, however, become "seagulls"(flying back and forth), which promotes economic and social exchanges between China and the outside world. This movement of Chinese talent will continue to benefit China and the rest of the world.
China's focus on education in technical fields will certainly be a strength as the nation strives to be more innovative. The technical work force has been falling behind and needs to be upgraded. Nevertheless, China should also focus more on the social, public and humanities areas in order to have well-balanced development.
Courtesy http://www.nytimes.com