The impact that information technology can have on development is the subject of an ongoing debate. Central to this debate is the role of universities. Education shapes people's attitudes toward technology and determines how it will be used. This research shows that in India, students at higher educational institutions are socialized to believe that information technology can have a very positive impact on their country. They do not share the skepticism commonly found in Western literature. This research finds that first and foremost, IT is seen as a tool for personal development, where students can leverage their education to become rich and successful, either in India or abroad. Second, IT is seen as a tool for Indian ascension, lifting India to the status of a great global power. Only thirdly is IT seen as a means to assist in the development of India's poor population. C 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Executive SummaryThis study compares two model curricula -one from India and one from the USA. These two countries have played a starring role in the development of information technology. Moreover, model curricula are useful tools for comparison of how different countries perceive and perpetuate ideas surrounding IT.Firstly, it was found that the Indian curriculum is far more instrumental than the American curriculum. Emphasis was placed on business applications of technology, laying bare the desire to turn graduates into engineers. Chemistry, Physics, and Electronics were well represented in the Indian curriculum but not at all in the American curriculum, possibly reflecting an Indian preference for this type of "hard" epistemology. This indicates that American and Indian curriculum designers perceive IT somewhat differently, and this may have significant implications for the way technology is developed in these two countries.

We are on the cusp of a new social reality. The changes brought on by the information age are as far reaching as those of the industrial age. In such times of profound change, taken-for-granted assumptions from the previous age are no longer appropriate, and the opportunity surfaces for a society-previously on the peripheryto emerge. One element of Nietzsche's philosophy is the exaltation of the free man, the "New Barbarian," who rejects the morality of the herd. We propose that a "New Barbarian" spirit is alive in India. While the West struggles to understand the information age using its outmoded ways of thinking, a subclass in India is defining this new era. However, the future will be contentious. Future conflicts will emerge that can be conceptualized as a clash between Old and New Barbarians.