Education Outsourcing

When the news of job outsourcing to India was splashed across the headlines, concern for the security of Americans’ jobs grew. There also grew the idea of a yet untouched market, not only useful for commerce but also for education. This week, Karen P. Hughes, an envoy for public diplomacy for the Bush administration, is visiting India along with the presidents of several American universities. Their goal is to promote as a commodity higher education received from a US institution. Columbia, Rice, Carnegie Mellon, and Cornell are among several schools to either set up satellite campuses in India or create a partnership with an existing Indian university.

There is a law currently being drafted in India’s Parliament concerning the rules and regulations that apply to foreign institutions, which if passed would exempt them from the procedures that accredited Indian universities must currently follow. The United States is of course advocating for less restrictions.

An American degree offered to Indian students would further qualify them for coveted American jobs. However, as President Bush stated hardly a year ago when asked about concerns over outsourcing, "we won't fear competition."