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Sorry, IITians

By LIFS July 2, 2007 at 10:47 AM

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Graduates of the Indian Institutes of Technology have played a far smaller role as entrepreneurs than has been widely assumed, according to a new report.

The report "Education, Entrepreneurship and Education" by researchers from Duke University, University of California, Berkeley, and the Kauffman Foundation found that only 15% on Indian American entrepreneurs surveyed received their undergraduate degree from one of the seven IITs. Delhi University graduates tied with IIT Mumbai, with 7% each, as the most common institutions of Indian American founders.

Vivek Wadhwa, lead author of the report, said: "This tells us more about Indians than their education. The fact is that no matter what school they graduated from, given the right opportunities, they flourish. The IITs are great schools, but are not the only ones that produce successful entrepreneurs."

By contrast, China's five leading universities accounted for half of all Chinese American entrepreneurs: Peking University (20%), followed by Nanjing University, Shanghai Jiao University and Tianjin University with 10% each. However, almost 90 percent of Indian founders received their graduate degrees in India whereas only a third of Chinese founders went to undergraduate school in China.

The study had earlier reported that fully a quarter of all science and technology startups in the United States between 1995-2005 had at least one immigrant founder. Indians led all groups, with 26 percent of firms reporting an Indian founder.

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Comments (2 posted)

Noussaiba February 16, 2013 at 3:10 PM

Cierra,Some simple reerasch on their website answers your question. UNH is an undergraduate/graduate school. A graduate school offers expert education above and beyond the undergraduate degree. Graduate degrees include PhDs, JDs, MDs, DMDs, etc ..A professional school offers education below an undergraduate degree, but is specialized. Like some nursing certifications, some assistant positions paralegal, vet assistant, etc. A professional school is usually targeted curriculum in one topic area. A graduate degree is sought after you have a broad Bachelors degree within an area (BA in Math, Science, etc)Most importantly, to pursue a graduate degree you must have an undergraduate degree first. To pursue a certificate from a professional school you typically need a HS diploma or GED.Hope that helps, the UNH website should have all the rest the info you need.Please vote for best answer if you think this information deserves the extra points.Thanks

Pushkar August 13, 2007 at 3:26 PM

When comparing an Institution like Delhi University with IIT\'s one should keep in mind the shear volume of students graduating from a university (in a few thousands) to the number of students graduating out of IIT\'s (around 2500 all IIT\'s combined). In the light of this new dimention probably IITians deserve a little more credit.