被職場焦慮改變的教育版圖
Workplace automation in the developed world is adding to career anxiety among young people, many of whom seem to feel they will be worse off than their parents as a result of technological change.
發達世界工作場所的自動化正在加劇年輕人的職業焦慮感，許多年輕人似乎覺得，技術變革將導致他們的境況比父輩差。
But youngsters in big emerging markets are significantly more confident that they have the skills needed for a successful career, according to a study of 8,700 apparently largely well-educated young people in nine developed and developing nations commissioned by the Indian IT services firm Infosys.
但印度IT服務公司Infosys委託相關機構對9個國家（包括髮達國家和發展中國家）的8700名顯然多數都受過良好教育的年輕人進行了調查，結果顯示，大型新興市場的年輕人要自信得多，他們相信自己擁有事業成功所需的技能。
This bullishness stems largely from their greater focus on technological skills, the study says. Three quarters of young people in India and China want to develop skills in data science and analytics, compared with less than half in France and Germany.
研究表明，這種自信很大程度上源於他們更加註重技術能力。在印度和中國，四分之三的年輕人希望提升數據科學和分析方面的技能，而在法國和德國，這一比例不足50%。
Infosys’s upbeat claims about IT potential in developing countries contrasts with the bleak assessment of a UN report in 2013. This warned they were particularly vulnerable to skills shortages given that people with IT skills tended to pursue opportunities abroad.
Infosys對發展中國家IT行業的發展潛力表示樂觀，這與2013年聯合國發表的一份悲觀報告形成鮮明對比。該報告警告稱，鑑於擁有IT技能的人傾向於尋求海外工作機遇，發展中國家尤其容易遭遇技術人員短缺的局面。
But citizens of developing nations are making use of technology and online resources to train themselves, increasing the stock of skilled people. This is particularly noticeable in China, where there is a proliferation of fast-growing digital education companies, such as 5Win. This provides online tuition to nearly 1m users in subjects including IT.
但發展中國家的居民正在利用技術和網絡資源進行自我培訓，使得技術人員數量越來越多。這種情況在中國尤爲明顯——在中國，沃贏科技(5Win)等快速發展的數字化教育公司激增。沃贏科技爲近100萬用戶提供IT等領域的在線教育。
The China-focused analysis firm iResearch says that the number of people studying online in the country rose 21 per cent last year to 72m. Most online students are outside larger cities, Chinese group Baidu said in separate research, suggesting that the internet is allowing skills to be acquired evenly across the nation.
專注於中國市場的艾瑞諮詢(iResearch)表示，中國在線學習人數去年增長21%，達到7200萬人。中國公司百度(Baidu)在另外一份研究報告中表示，大多數在線學生並不在大城市——這表明互聯網正使得中國各地的人們都能同樣地獲得技能。
The public sector is also playing an important role in helping Asian students to make the most of technology, says Zoraini Wati Abas, who has worked on integrating technology into university courses in Indonesia and Malaysia. Poor Indonesian students who struggle to afford expensive textbooks have benefited as universities rely more on digital resources, she says, while Indonesia’s government is encouraging universities to set up online courses that can be used by people who cannot benefit from conventional campus-based tuition.
在印尼和馬來西亞致力於將技術整合進大學課程的佐拉尼•瓦提•阿巴斯(Zoraini Wati Abas)表示，在幫助亞洲學生充分利用技術方面，公共部門也扮演着關鍵角色。她說，隨着大學更加依賴於數字化資源，印尼那些負擔不起昂貴課本的窮學生因此受益。同時，印尼政府鼓勵大學爲那些無法受益於傳統校園教學的人開設在線課程。
Cheap smartphones have enabled millions of relatively poor young people to go online. Many are more interested in chatting with friends on social media than in educational resources but these activities can also provide them with useful skills, even if they do not realise it, says Bunmi Banjo, who works on digital education for Google in Nigeria.
廉價智能手機讓數百萬相對貧窮的年輕人能夠上網。谷歌尼日利亞數字化教育業務的布米•巴尼奧(Bunmi Banjo)表示，許多人更感興趣的是與朋友在社交媒體上聊天，而非使用網上教育資源，但這些活動也爲他們提供了有用的技能，即便他們沒有意識到這一點。
The US technology group in April announced plans to help train 1m young Africans in IT skills such as digital marketing. “People in Africa are generally optimistic about the future — there’s a sense that Africa is growing, and technology definitely plays a big role in that. It’s the next frontier,” Ms Banjo says.
谷歌今年4月公佈了相關計劃，將幫助培訓100萬名非洲年輕人，讓他們掌握數字化營銷等IT技能。巴尼奧表示：“在非洲的人們總體上對未來感到樂觀——他們覺得非洲正在發展，技術無疑在其中扮演重要角色。這是下一個前沿領域。”
In South Africa, the Google-backed Digify Africa project is focusing on training that will help young people find work, crucial in a country where youth unemployment is over 50 per cent. For many, the learning curve is extremely steep, says programme manager Mazuba Haanyama. “There are some sessions where people don’t have email addresses. How would you research the range of work you want if you don’t know how to [use] the internet?”
在南非，谷歌支持的Digify Africa項目着眼於開展幫助年輕人找到工作的培訓，這在一個年輕人失業率超過50%的國家裏至關重要。項目經理馬祖巴•哈恩亞麻(Mazuba Haanyama)表示，對許多人來說，學習曲線極爲陡峭。“有些培訓上人們都沒有電子郵件地址。如果你不知道如何（使用）互聯網，你怎麼研究自己想要從事哪些工作？”
Google has rolled out regional-language tools in India for the growing number of Indians with smartphones who are not comfortable using English or Hindi. Such efforts reflect a growing awareness in Silicon Valley of the importance of emerging markets.
谷歌爲越來越多擁有智能手機但不擅長使用英語或者印地語的印度人推出了方言工具。此類努力反映出硅谷日益認識到新興市場的重要性。
But the skills being developed abroad are seen by some as a threat to America’s tech dominance. Of the US technology executives surveyed by law firm DLA Piper in 2014, two-thirds saw a “significant or moderate threat” from emerging tech centres in Asia, South America and Europe.
但一些人認爲，其他地區技能的發展將威脅美國在技術領域的主導地位。在2014年接受歐華律所(DLA Piper)調查的美國科技公司高管當中，三分之二認爲亞洲、南美和歐洲的新興科技中心是“中重度威脅”。
In some emerging markets, however, there are concerns about whether young people have the skills needed to compete internationally.
然而，在一些新興市場，人們擔心年輕人是否擁有在國際上競爭所需的技能。
In India, technology has been a route to prosperity for thousands since IT services groups such as Infosys rose to global prominence in the 1990s, providing support services for developed-world companies. But as they move into more advanced fields such as data analytics, companies are now struggling to find graduates with the necessary skills, says Nirmal Singh, chief executive of Wheebox, which provides skill assessment services to employers. “Formal education is struggling with this,” he says, noting that companies such as Infosys invest heavily in extended training for new recruits.
在印度，自上世紀90年代Infosys等IT服務集團在全球嶄露頭角、爲發達國家的企業提供技術支持服務以來，成千上萬的人憑藉技術走向成功。但Wheebox首席執行官尼馬爾•辛格(Nirmal Singh)表示，隨着這些企業進入數據分析等更高級的領域，它們現在很難找到擁有必要技能的畢業生。他說：“正式教育正在艱難應對這個問題”，他指出Infosys等公司在新員工擴展培訓方面進行了大筆投資。Wheebox爲僱主們提供技能評估服務。
In Thailand, meanwhile, the enthusiasm for IT training could prove shortlived once young graduates realise that there are not enough jobs on offer, says Jirapon Sunkpho, a professor in the innovation college at Bangkok’s Thammasat university.
與此同時，曼谷法政大學(Thammasat)創新學院的希拉蓬•森克弗教授(Jirapon Sunkpho)表示，在泰國，一旦年輕畢業生意識到沒有足夠的工作機會，IT培訓熱情就可能轉瞬即逝。
“The number of students graduating with IT-related degrees is about 30,000 a year but the total number of IT jobs in Thailand is only about 50,000,” he says. One problem is cuts in state funding for Thai universities, which have prompted them to ramp up enrolment in popular areas such as IT to increase fee revenue. “We produce more graduates than the market can take,” Mr Sunkpho says.
他說：“每年的IT相關專業畢業生大約有3萬，但泰國IT職位總數只有大約5萬。”一個問題是泰國政府削減了對大學的撥款，這促使高校擴大IT等熱門專業的招生來增加收入。森克弗表示：“我們的畢業生數量超過了市場能夠吸收的數量。”
