OP-ED: "The Rise of Asia's Universities," by Richard C. Levin, New York Times, 20 April 2010.

Key bit:

The results of Beijing's investment have been staggering. Over the past decade, the number of institutions of higher education in China more than doubled, from 1,022 to 2,263. Meanwhile, the number of Chinese who enroll in a university each year has quintupled. India's achievement to date has not been nearly as impressive, but its aspirations are no less ambitious. To fuel the country's economic growth, India aims to increase its gross enrollment ratio in post-secondary education from 12 percent to 30 percent by 2020. This goal translates to an increase of 40 million students in Indian universities over the next decade.

Oh, the shifting balance of global POW-WAH! Or maybe it's just a good thing that more people are being educated, because then it's not just their stomachs but their brains that are being added to the mix. It may just cut down on the number of Earths we are "forced" (forced, I tell you!) to consume. But hey! Be careful with that stuff, China!

It takes more than research capacity alone for a nation to develop economically, however. It takes well-educated citizens of broad perspective and dynamic entrepreneurs capable of independent and original thinking. The leaders of China, in particular, have been very explicit in recognizing that two elements are missing from their universities: multidisciplinary breadth and the cultivation of critical thinking.

Because critical thinking doesn't go hand-in-hand with single-party rule. The larger problem:

The traditional Asian approaches to curriculum and pedagogy may work well for training line engineers and midlevel government officials, but they are less suited to fostering leadership and innovation.

And here's where India beats China:

The egalitarian politics of India make it difficult to focus on developing a small number of world-class research universities. In one respect, however, India has a powerful advantage over China, at least for now. It affords faculty members the freedom to pursue their intellectual interests wherever they may lead and allows students and faculty alike to express, and thus test, their most heretical and unconventional theories -- freedoms that are an indispensable feature of any great university.

This is why state or authoritarian capitalism has built-in limits. [thanks to WPR's Media Roundup]