China's software schools

Mercury News on China's software schools -

It is in settings like Peking University's School of Software where the Chinese talent will emerge to challenge places like Silicon Valley as a tech leader for the next generation.

Peking University is one of 35 Chinese universities chosen three years ago by the central government to build software colleges.

Right now, China's software workers perform mainly low-level programming tasks. The lack of higher skills in software means China is lagging far behind countries like India.

Yet China already is producing huge numbers of technically trained graduates.

In China, 58 percent of all degrees awarded in 2002 were in physical sciences and engineering, compared with 17 percent in the United States, according to the U.S. Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

In engineering, about 220,000 Chinese bachelor's degrees were awarded in 2002, compared with 60,000 in the United States.

Overall its a good development for the world of entrepreneurship and technology.