It operates more than 120 technical institutes in 38 states, teaching about 80, 000 students.

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Witte also encouraged the growth of technical institutes to provide a new Russia with the talent it needed.

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Despite its 1.6 million schools, 500 universities, 25, 000 colleges and 7, 000 technical institutes, far too few employable Indians are graduating from its education system.

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The grants would be evaluated on technical merit, just like medical grants at the National Institutes of Health.

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