|
|
Read about the author Sudhindra Mokhasi, read his blog, see his tour schedule and events in your city and register for a book event. Write to the author. Read his columns in newspapers and more... |
|
|
|
.jpg)
|
Sudhindra's writes a fortnightly column in Deccan Chronicle / Asian Age in the Business - Technomics section. This column 'Tech-Sutra', will appear every alternate Monday starting 15th Jun 2009.
Click here send a message to Sudhindra
| |
|
|
Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, London
Monday, 1st March 2010
|
|
:: Business / Technomics
|
|
Back to Article list
|
Tech books: New frontier
1st March 2010
Sudhindra Mokhasi
For our recent hiring exercise, we were researching the syllabi of Indian universities for a particular specialty in computer science. Our researcher, Anusha, had exceeded the brief and included reference books in addition to the required data -- university, college and subject.
It was nice to see Kernighan and Richie for C, Tanenbaum for data structures and Pressman for software engineering still enduring. Overall, the list evoked a mixed bag of emotions, from nostalgia to grudging admiration for the long-standing authors to happiness for the newbie authors who had managed to break into the list. Moving beyond the familiar, it suddenly struck me that there were very few resident Indian authors in the list. A quick analysis showed that for universities, less than five per cent of recommended books were authored by Indians.
In IITs, the situation was even more biased towards foreign authors. Even hackneyed subjects like software engineering, object oriented design and C++ were dominated by foreign authors. New technologies like Web 2.0 and mobile computing, where we have more than adequate experience, didn't have much Indian representation.
To understand the user point of view, I spoke to a few recent engineering graduates and the manager of a popular bookstore in Bengaluru's Jayanagar area. The manager of the bookstore said that over the last 3-4 years, the percentage of sales has been shifting towards Indian authors, and is currently hovering at 50-50. He says Indian authors are more "to the point".
According to a student of the VTU, they are now more comfortable referring to works by Indian authors because for one, they are credible because of the university recommendation, and also because the books are more examination-centric.
I reviewed many syllabi, and to cite one particular case, Karnataka’s central technical university VTU seems to have made a deliberate effort to include at least one Indian author, subject to availability of quality work. In some Instances, like Computer Aided Engineering Drawing, it has even brought out its own publication.
I think that sums up the situation in computer engineering education in India. In pockets, Indian authors are doing the more lucrative but tactical, exam-centric books, while the more gyaani and perspective books are authored by foreigners. In cases where the gyaani books are written by Indians, they haven't always made it to the universities' recommended lists. But the question still remains, aren't we capable of writing the perspective stuff as well, or more importantly, should we?
There are two ways to action this data. A simple way would be to say that - foreign pioneers and gurus have written these books and diligently keep them - updated, so why should an Indian duplicate the efforts.
So we stick to the exam-centric stuff.
Another (quasi-national-istic?) view would be to interpret this as an opportunity. Having spent two decades doing all possible flavours of IT, isn't it time we ploughed our learning, back into the education system and, in effect, reduce the gap between - education and employability?
A simple back of the - envelope calculation sizes the market. If India produces around 250,000 computer engineers and MCAs every year, and if a only 20 per cent translate into new book sales, and each book is priced at Rs.300, and there are 20 probable subjects, we have a market of over Rs. 30crore, plus the satisfaction of having consciously steered the computer engineering education system towards better employability.
And this sizing does not include the books used by practitioners, which is easily many times the size of the student market.
Ministry of HRD, universities, authors and IT practitioners - it's time to take, a call!
Sudhindra Mokhasi is CEO of a technology firm and author of ‘BPO-Sutra: True stories from India’s BPO & Call Centers’
|
|
Back to Article list
|
|
|
|
|
