What Is This Telling Us?

October 31, 2008

Purdue's president to expand, build partnerships in India, China

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -

Purdue University President France A. Córdova will embark on a two-week trip beginning Saturday (Nov. 1) to build partnerships in India and China.

"Purdue is truly a global university," Córdova said. "Many Purdue alumni are now leaders in China and India. Our faculty members partner with universities in both countries. Many of our students hail from these nations as well. Through this trip, we'll look for new opportunities to build on this substantial foundation."

Purdue has the second-largest number of international students (5,479) of any public university in the United States.

Purdue's students come from more than 120 countries, and the largest number of those students - 1,256 - come from India.

Students from China are Purdue's second-largest population, with 975 on campus this fall.

Scores of Purdue faculty and staff also are Indian- or Chinese-born.

In Bangalore, Córdova will meet with key city and country leaders at the Indian Institute of Science and with officials at Infosys Technologies. She also will travel to the General Electric Technology Research Center to review a nanomaterials partnership opportunity and other projects in General Electric's global research division.

At Cummins India in Mumbai, a five-year memorandum of understanding will be signed between Purdue, Cummins Inc. and the Cummins College of Engineering for Women. The college and company, which has its main headquarters in Columbus, Ind., have partnered with Purdue since 2003 to send Indian graduates to the West Lafayette campus for master's and doctoral studies. The memorandum calls on the three to expand these efforts, particularly with research and development; student and faculty exchange; a fellowship program; and support for mechanical engineering curriculum at the Indian campus.

In addition, Córdova will meet with officials at IIT Bombay, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the University Institute of Chemical Technology and the S.P. Jain Institute. Córdova will visit a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Hyderabad and a cellular and molecular biology research facility.

In Hong Kong, Córdova will discuss joint research efforts, student internships and research fellowships with officials at the Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Inc. She also will discuss partnerships and research with Alexander Tzang, deputy president of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Paul Chu, president of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Alumni receptions will be held in Bangalore, Mumbai and Hong Kong, providing opportunities for alumni as well as parents of current students to meet Córdova.

Purdue alumni from India and China, many of whom Córdova will meet with, include:

* Satish Reddy Kallam - managing director of Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. He earned his bachelor's degree from the School of Pharmacy in 1991.

* Habil F. Khorakiwala - founder and chairman of Wockhardt Ltd., a biotechnology and pharmaceutical company. He earned his master's degree from the School of Pharmacy in 1966.

* Charles Mok - director of Computancy Ltd., an information technology consulting company. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical and computer engineering in 1985 and 1987, respectively.

* G.V. Prasad - executive vice chairman and CEO of Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. He earned his master's degree in industrial administration from Purdue's Krannert School of Management in 1983. (The degree is the equivalent of today's master of business administration.)

* C.N.R. Rao - honorary president of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore. He earned his doctorate from Purdue's School of Science in 1958.

* Sanjay Reddy - vice chairman of GVK Industries Ltd. He earned his bachelor's degree in industrial engineering in 1987.

* Sowmyanarayanan Sadagopan - director of the Indian Institute of Information Technology/Bangalore. He earned his master's and doctoral degrees from Purdue's School of Industrial Engineering in 1977 and 1979, respectively.

* Pooja Shetty - director at Adlabs Films Ltd. She earned her bachelor's degree from the Krannert School of Management in 2000.

* Venu Srinivasan - CEO of TVS Motor Co. He earned an MBA from the Krannert School of Management in 1977.

* Ravi Venkatesan - chairman of Microsoft/India. He earned an MBA from the Krannert School of Management in 1986.

* Patrick Wang - chairman and chief executive officer of Johnson Electric in Hong Kong.

Comments

[JC]

Most American students just want a high school diploma or college degree. They see learning as an inconvenience they must go through to get them. Americans don't value learning.

When I was in college, too many students viewed a degree as a piece of paper they needed to get a good job. Learning just wasn't important. Many didn't even care about their GPA. Getting a C to pass the class was their ultimate goal.

We have an educational crisis in this country. The problem is not a lack of spending (we're number 1 already), class sizes, immigrant students, or any of the other excuses I usually hear.

The problem is cultural. We don't value learning. We scorn intelligence. Parents need to instill a love of learning in their children. Schools need to set high expectations and not teach to the level of the poorest performing students in the class. How do we change attitudes?

[Bill Rothschild]

I am a professor at University of Bridgeport, which is not in the same educational level as Purdue, but has even a higher percentage of foreign students.

Many of these students are superior to American students and some are not...but most of them are very pleased to learn from US (which not only means us as individuals but US as the UNITED STATES... since everything has its pluses and minues... my personal experience is positive, but it causes me to worry about why we are not educating and motivating more of our US STUDENTS, as well as whether we are GIVING AWAY OUR COMPETITIVE KNOW-HOW and skills that will ULITIMATELY BE USED TO NEGATIVELY IMPACT OUR OWN GROWTH AND PROSPEITY.

Bill Rothschild, author of the ONLY OBJECTIVE, COMPREHENSIVE and INSIGHTFUL assessment of GE, A REMARKABLE COMPANY...THE SECRET TO GE's SUCCESS.