The overall education infrastructure is a key contributor to the competitiveness of different offshore locations.  One of the key metrics in a locations ongoing competitiveness is the ability of the educational system to train university graduates.  Figure 1 below illustrates the number of university students that graduate each year and enter the workforce.

As with may other statistics, China and India are at the top of the list.  China graduates about 5.6 million university students each year, about double that of the United States.  India is about half of China at 2.6 million, on par with the U.S.

Top Offshore Locations by University Graduates - Figure 1

Sources: UNESCO, NASSCOM, Offshore Advisor

The ability of China and India to train new graduates is impressive, however, the lead of these two countries at not as large as one might think when you compare populations or total workforces.  Russia, which ranks third, produces about 1.9 million graduates each year, about 70% of that of India.  On a total workforce basis, Russia is only 15% the size of India.

Several Eastern European countries also do well. Ukraine and Poland are both in the top 10 with about half a million graduates a year.  On an overall workforce basis they both rank much lower.