Specially designed textbooks for first year engg students in Pune

In a bid to increase student engagement, Pearson Education India (PEI) has tailored and customised six books for first year engineering syllabus of the University of Pune (UoP) and institutes affiliated to it. The books were launched at a seminar held on August 27, at hotel Le Meridien in Pune.

Speaking on the occasion, chief marketing officer of PEI, Anish Srikrishna said, “This is our second attempt at tailoring the content to the specific requirements of a university. We offered our custom publishing solutions for the first time to Gujarat Technical University (GTU).”

He said that in Maharashtra, PEI plans to customise college textbooks for seven universities, starting with the UoP. Bombay University and Marathwada University are among the other universities from the state.   

The day-long seminar started with eminent academicians, including Aruna Katara, president and dean, International Institute of Information Technology; Brig (retd) Swapan Lahiri, director, Army Institute of Technology; Tejinder Paul Singh, director, Symbiosis Institute of Technology and SY Prabhu, academic dean, Vishwakarma Institute of Technology; addressing critical issues in the area of engineering education. The seminar also featured a panel discussion, chaired and moderated by Anil Sahasrabuddhe, director, College of Engineering Pune (CoEP), highlighting the role of study material in engineering education.  
Keeping in mind the evolving needs of the students and faculties, Srikrishna said, “The books cover essential subjects of the first year, created as per the needs expressed by faculty members and feedback received from students. The books fully cover the UoP syllabus, structuring the contents as per the topics.”

The engineering textbooks explain concepts with the help of numerous examples, and also highlight important topics from exam point of view.

Every chapter begins with a summary. The six books which will be available in the market are Applied Science - I, Engineering Mathematics - I, Fundamentals of Programming Languages, Engineering Graphics - I, Basic Electrical Engineering and Basic Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Revamping the engineering education system, Katara said, “We need to design undergraduate engineering programmes in local language and ITI courses must be converted into degree programmes, to give them recognition.”

The synergy of industry and academia is essential for engineering education, to bring in real-time internship.    

Referring to improving employability and recruitments, Lahiri pointed the need to bridge the gap in industry exposure.

“There is no inspiration for engineering students to study further. After graduation, hardly 8% do masters and only 2% go for doctorate,” he said.