A Simple Import/Export Solution?

It's been nearly a year since my last post.  But I felt compelled to chronicle and comment on this experience today.

Paul Krugman's NYT Op-ED piece

I was reading a New York Times Op-Ed By Paul Krugman titled, Wasting Our Minds. It's about the enormous unemployment rates ranging from 33% to 50% among those less tha 25 in Europe and the slightly better, 16.5% unemployment among those under 25 in the US. Mr. Krugman also pointed out how the ridiculous university tuition rates add to the troubles of the American youth. Certainly not a pretty picture on the Western developed nations front.

Hoping to get better news in Asia, I came across a South China Morning Post opinion piece titled, What ageing Asia can do to attract talent . This article was about the shrinking labor force in Asia and the need for young new talent. Uhmmmm... it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the simple solution of exporting the educated youth of the economically ravaged West and then import them into the booming economies of the East where there is enormous demand for a young, educated workforce.

Of course in the real world, what seems like obvious solutions are often not that simple.  So what's one to do?  Well, fortunately for me, I feel grateful and lucky that I currently work for an organization that directly addresses these problems.  That organization is the International Technological University or ITU.  It's a small, dynamic and forward-thinking university that believes in execution as much teaching fundamentals and theory.  Our professors come from the world's top comapanies and universities, but our tuition rates are quite low compared to most US universities.

OK, so enough with the written commercial.  What are we doing that addresses the problems brought up in these two op-ed pieces?  Our professors, my co-workers and I train the youth in US and China with the best of Western technologies, business and the arts.  The educational and training process often involves working in real industry jobs and projects.  This makes our students experienced professionals by the time they graduate and look for jobs.  And yes, many of those jobs and opportunities are in China.

Chengdu is just one of the many cities I've visited in China with a huge insatiable demand for skilled workers.

I've seen first hand many cities in China where there are enormous facilities, equipment and demand for services and products. But the government officials, entrepreneurs and business people often tell me that there are not enough skilled, educated workers to these studios or factories.  So what's one to do?  Simply put we're training people and connecting them directly with studios, companies and businesses that are in dire need of these "wasted minds".