Computer Science Education - a Historical Perspective by Balaji V (1345001)

Computer Science Education – a Historical Perspective

Introduction

The electronic computer was developed in 1940s, and has changed in many ways the functioning of the world. It is classified as one of the top ten greatest inventions of mankind. Today, we cannot even think to live without a computer in its traditional form or as a handheld device.

The history of computers in education has been characterized as an “accidental revolution” or “unthinking man and his thinking machines”. The computer has changed the saying that “necessity is the mother of invention” to “in a computer world, invention is the mother of necessity”. Some of the most provocative and inspiring ideas in the history of education have been created by the creators of the computer science field [6].

Prof. V Rajaraman, the renowned Indian author of many programming languages text books, in his article on “Computer Science Education in India” [1], highlights the goals of an education program in Computer Science, with the following statements:

·         To fulfil the manpower needs in the field of Computer Science to ensure the Country’s economic advancement.

·         To popularize the use of Computers in engineering design for applications like, design of Civil Structures, Electrical Machines and Chemical Plants. This will accelerate the development of the design process and end up in improved productivity.

·         To become self-reliant in Software Development, which demands intellectual labour and India is abundant in this factor.

·         To create the manpower for Designing, Manufacturing and Maintaining Computer Systems.

·         To facilitate the use of Computers in Research & Development in India.

·         To develop special continuing Education Programs for Managers, Engineers, Scientists, Administrators and General Public to learn the potentials of Computers and facilitate them to use the same as they had had their formal education in the pre-computer era.

He has provided indicative syllabi for many of these courses and concluded this article mentioning that the potential of the Computer Science field be utilized in the rapid industrial development of the country and in achieving our social goals also.

This essay discusses the applications of Computers, the impact of Computers in the field of Education and how the penetration of computers into institutions happened in the chronological order.

Computer’s entry into India

India bought its first computer in 1956 for a high sum of Rs. 10 lakh. Named HEC-2M, it was installed at Calcutta’s Indian Statistical Institute, where India’s weather forecasting model, based on statistical analysis of meteorological data, was developed. The same machine was used to design the next generation of computers, including India's first indigenous computer, the ‘TIFRAC’ (or Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Automatic Computer), in 1962 [7].

By world standards, India is behind many countries in the field of Education. Central and state governments make consistent efforts to raise the literacy rate. The main obstacles are the huge population and the unavailability of good, trained teachers to reach out to this population. Computing technology comes handy to solve these kinds of problems.

Need: The Scientific Information Explosion

We are experiencing a scientific information explosion, which has not been sensed in the other disciplines. Today, scientists and engineers use computers to access the rapidly growing data bases that store numbers, words, maps, chemical and physical structures and they search them millions of times a year. The base of scientific knowledge today is huge. It is estimated that it would take 22 centuries to read the annual biomedical research literature or seven centuries to read a year’s chemical literature [2].

An unmanned Soviet satellite, Sputnik was launched on October 4^th 1957 in the orbit around the Earth, which provided scientists with valuable information. The propagation of its radio signals gave information about the ionosphere and the density of the upper atmosphere. More such information stirred national interest in educational reforms and thus began the “golden age” of education. Major national efforts were made to reform education [6].

Fresh modes of communications such as radio, film, television and computers created an information-rich society. Schools have to transform into knowledge centers and compete for student attention. Additionally, the new emerging educational technologies were to become an important catalyst for rethinking education. The rethinking started some time in 1960s though the inventions in Computers and Computing had started in 1940s.

Computers in Education

At Dartmouth, USA, in 1963, John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz transformed the role of computers in education from primarily a research activity to an academic one [6]. In the same year, at Stanford, Patrick Suppes and Richard Atkinson established a program of research and development on computer–assisted instruction in mathematics and reading. They sought to create a new system to free the students from group–paced instruction and use individualized, instructional strategies with feedback. These programs facilitate students to take an active role in the learning process and Mastery was obtained through drill–and–practice.

Computer–aided Education this way proceeded to the MIT – Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Michigan, Carnegie Mellon University and other well-known institutions. The penetration of computers into Education as an aid has been facilitated by many reputed Indian institutions which are discussed below.

Role of the IITs:

The Indian Institutes of Technology at various locations in the country have been the pioneer to bring in Computer Science in to the formal education stream in India. They offer both graduate and post graduate courses in Computer Science & Engineering, and facilitate active research through MS, PhD and Post-Doctoral programs. Following are the specifics of each of the institutes.

1.   Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

This was the first Institute in the country to start Computer Science education in August 1963 on an IBM 1620 system [4]. The department continues to lead the nation in terms of excellence in research and teaching in Computer Science and Engineering.

2.   IIT Bombay

The first computing activity in IIT Bombay started with the arrival of the Minsk II computer in 1967, which had the following configuration: It used 2^nd generation discrete transistor based circuitry, with I/O units as paper tape input-output, and off-line printers. The Computer Center was setup by a team spearheaded by Prof. J.R. Isaac. The Department of Computer Science and Engineering was officially formed in 1982. Active research areas of the department are:

ü  Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing

ü  Computer Networks – Performance modelling

ü  Computer Graphics, Computer Vision and Image Understanding

3.   IISC Bangalore

The Department of Computer Science and Automation (CSA) is a pioneering academic centre for higher education, research, and innovation in computer science, which was created in 1969 and was initially called the School of Automation. The department states its vision as “To enable India’s excellence in the world of computer science and automation”. The “Supercomputer Education and Research Centre (SERC)” functioning at IISc conducts research in the following domains:

      Theoretical Computer Science

      Computer Systems

      Intelligent Systems

4.   Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Madras

The Department was started in 1973 with the acquisition of an IBM 370 Mainframe Computer, the then most powerful computer in India. The courses offered then were, M.Tech, M.S and PhD and the B.Tech degree programme was started in the year 1983. The student strength of the department has now grown to about 400, with 50 full-time engineers working on R&D projects. Vision of the department is stated as “Global Excellence and Local Relevance in research, teaching, and technology development”.

5.   IIT Delhi

The department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi started Computer Technology as a course in 1976, which was even before the establishment of Computer Science & Engineering department. Courses offered were PhD, M.S. (Research) and M.Tech. The later established department of Computer Science and Engineering is now renowned for cutting edge research and for imparting state of the art education to the students of B.Tech, M.Tech, M.S. (Research) and PhD.

6.   IIT Kharagpur

The Department of Computer Science & Engineering was initiated in the year 1980 and it has played a pivotal role in developing and deploying the technology for one of the largest telemedicine networks in India. Apart from the graduate and post graduate programs, the Department has been engaged with considerable research work in

Ø  Medical Imaging, Digital image processing, Medical Informatics and Multimedia Databases

Ø  Assistive learning for the physically challenged

Ø  Cryptography and information security

Ø  Technology for VLSI CAD

Ø  Software Engineering

Pune University

The Department of Computer Science of Pune University is one of the earliest CS Departments started in Indian Universities. When computer science was little known and the word IT did not exist, the department started a one–year programme [B.Sc. (Applied) degree in Computer Science] in 1980. Other programs include, M.C.A. in 1983, the M.Tech. in 1985 and M.Sc. Computer Science in 1986.

University of Delhi

In the year 1981, University of Delhi with an objective of imparting quality education in the field of Computer Science, established its department of Computer Science. The Department started the three year MCA program in 1982, which was one of the first in India. Following are the other courses offered by the department:

§  M.Sc. Computer Science

§  Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

§  B.Tech. Computer Science and B.Sc. (H) Computer Science through its constituent colleges.

University of Mysore

In the year 1986, the University of Mysore with the support of DRDO, Ministry of Defence, Government of India, started the department with a Post Graduate programme in Computer Science (M.Sc.) mainly to cater to the demands of good software engineering in DRDO labs all over the country [8]. The Department of Studies in Computer Science was formed in the year 1991 and subsequently, MCA was started in 1992.

Bangalore University

The Department of Computer Science & Applications was established in the year 1986. It started with a P.G Diploma in Computer Science followed by MCA program in 1989 and M.Sc Course in 2006.

Computer Science in School Education

CBSE, the Central Board of Secondary Education, India, has included Computer Science in its Curriculum 2005, for students of XI and XII standards. Earlier in March 2004, the board’s proposal for “Work Education in Schools” included “Computer Applications” as an elective for class VI–XII[3]. Many state governments[5] have also incorporated similar changes in their secondary and higher secondary curriculum for the inclusion of many flavours of this subject like, Computer Science, Informatics Practices and Multimedia and Web Technology.

The Department of School Education & Literacy under the ministry of HRD, Government of India has framed “The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Schools” Scheme in December, 2004 to provide opportunities to secondary school students. This is to mainly build the necessary skills in students and make them learn through the process of computer aided learning (CAL).  The Scheme provides support to States/Union Territories to establish computer labs on sustainable basis.  It also aims to set up smart schools in KendriyaVidyalayas and NavodayaVidyalayas.

CSI

Computer Society of India is the first and largest body of computer professionals in India. A group of computer professionals started it on 6^th March 1965 and has now grown to be the national body representing computer professionals. Across India, it has 71 chapters, 418 student branches, and more than 90,000 members [9].

Summary & Conclusion

The information and data provided in this write–up though not exhaustive, is expected to serve the reader as a ready reckoner into the topic of “permeation of Computers in to Education in the Indian subcontinent”. It starts with the very basic history of invention of computers, describes their importance to and applications in human life, and discusses how various educational institutions explored the opportunities to include Computer Science into their curriculum and operations. It also examines in short the impact of Computers in school education and described one popular professional organization, CSI and its activities.

References:

1.      The Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers, “Computer Education in India, Past, Present and Future”, Edited by Dr. Utpal K. Banerjee, Concept Publishing Company, 1996.

2.      Bernier, C. L., “Reading Overload and Cogency”, Information Processing and Management, 14, (1978), pp. 445-452.

3.      Work Education in Schools, published by CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education), March 2004.

4.      Websites of CBSE, IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Bombay and IISC, Bangalore. [http://cbse.nic.in/, http://www.iitd.ac.in/, http://www.iitm.ac.in/, http://www.iitk.ac.in/, http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/, https://www.iitb.ac.in/, http://www.iisc.ernet.in/]

5.      Official Website of School Education, Govt. Of Uttarakhand.

6.      “Computers in Education: A Brief History”, THE Journal, Date: 06/01/1997.

7.      Makarand Bhonsle, “Computer Technology in India”, web resource accessed on 30^th March 2014:  http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/Radioserials/Computer Technology in India.pdf.

8.      Website of Mysore University (Department of Computer Science): http://www.uni-mysore.ac.in/computer-science/

9.      Website of Computer Society of India, CSI : http://www.csi-india.org/. Kanyakumari Chapter : http://csi-cape.org/rsc/conference.php.

History of Management Education

Jesu Raju Thomas

PhD-Management

Reg No:1340001

History of Management Education:

History of Management is ageless. Philosophy of Management is standard and systematic operation procedure used in business for profit making. Business may not be act of making profit only because NGOs are also involved in business but their act not related to making profit. NGOs are involved in raising funds and using funds for the stated purpose for the up-liftment of marginalised but they also in need of systematic management to deliver their services effectively. Management is a need of the hour in managing a small family to managing conglomerate businesses.  

The verb manage arrives from the Italian word maneggiare which means to handle especially tools. The word manage derives from the Latin word manus. Management has involved in every kind of activity whether it is a family event, sport event or managing Business. Complexity of such activity also increasing day by day so discipline of management continuingly searching for new solution for the problems. As a result it is continuously emerging from ages. The conceptualisation of management happened during 18^thand 19^th century. Industrial revolution in the 18^th and 19^th century resulted in many approaches to management. Before the Industrial revelation owners used to maintain their business so there was not much systematic recording of the transaction. Industrial revolution made the businesses to grow and ownership also changed from individual to shareholders, groups. To manage the business different hierarchy of managers are emerged to manage the operation of the business. This resulted in the development of formal training institutions for the managers. Many education institutions are started courses on Management.  

Management is a process of converting the resources to utility. Management involves the five major functions they are Planning, Directing, Organising, Staffing, Directing, Controlling. Management is the process of using human capital of an enterprise to contribute to the success of the enterprise or any institutions. 

The concept of management has existed for millennia. The concept of strengths and weakness of managers are used in 6^th Century BC by Chinese general Sun Tzu, The Art of War.

Arthashastra by Chanakya which was written around 3000 BC discuss about best practices of govern. The wealth of Nations by Adam Smith in 1776 explains about efficient organisation work by division of labour. 

During 19^th century many management theories are developed such as resource allocation, production and pricing. There was also development technical production such as standardization, quality control, cost accounting. In late 19^th century salaried managers were existed in large corporation. 

Scholars like tried to apply the principle of other streams such as psychology, production, sociology to management. The Harvard Business School offered first Master of Business Management degree in 1921.  End of the 20^th century business management became one of the specialised streams with separate branches namely Human resources Management, operation management, strategic management, Marketing, Financial management, information technology management. 

In the 21^st century management theory became part of major disciplines. Management concepts are used in NGOs, Government, and Educational institutions etc. 

The history of important first business schools are as follows

1819- ESCP Europe (Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris) was founded in Paris, France world first business school (GmbH)

1855 - The Institut Supérieur de Commerce d'Anvers and the Institut Saint-Ignace;

1857 – The Budapest Business School was founded in the Austrian Empire. First business school in Central Europe. (School)

1871 – The Rouen Business School

1881 – The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is the United States' first business school. (PENNSYLVANIA, 2014)

1898 – The University of St. Gallen Established  the first university in Switzerland teaching business and economics. One of the oldest French business schools.

1900 - The first graduate school of business in the United States, the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.  (The Tuck School of Business, 2014)

1902 - The Birmingham Business School is the United Kingdom's first business school. (The independent, 2010)

1908 - Harvard Business School was founded at Harvard University. It was the first program in the world to offer the Master of Business Administration degree in 1921.

1909 - Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management They founded undergraduate business program.

1946 – The Thunderbird School of Global Management, then called the American Institute for Foreign Trade, focused exclusively on global business.

1949 – The University of Pretoria in South Africa founded the oldest business school in Africa.

1949 - XLRI - India's oldest business management school is founded

1954 - The Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), University of Delhi is among one of the oldest business schools in India (Faculty of Management Studies University of Delhi, 2014)

1955 - The Institute of Business Administration, Karachi was the first business school to be established outside North America to offer an MBA degree

1991 – The IEDC-Bled School of Management was the first business school to offer an MBA program inEastern Europe

1994 – CEIBS (China Europe International Business School) was the first business school in China to have received funding from a foreign government, namely the European Commission.

Business schools are first established in Europe followed by America and Asia. XLRI and FMS are the old management institutions of India. 

The important people who contributed for the development of management theory are as follows

1856 – 1915:  Fredric Winslow Taylor (Father of Scientific Management)– Designing jobs which improved the industrial efficiency. He is the Author of principle of scientific management.

1864-1920: Max Weber – Management organisation and structure. He has developed Bureaucratic Theory of management

1880–1949: Elton Mayo- Hawthorne Studies. He was also Harvard Professor recommend that managers should become people oriented

1844 – 1924: Henry R. Towne laid emphasis on the need of study of management separately and to learn. He was the first to come up with a new social role for engineers and to understand the importance of management techniques for engineers.

The important management theories developed are Scientific Management by Frederick Taylor, Taylor’s Four Principles of Management, General Administrative Theory by Herial Fayol and Weber’s Ideal Bureaucracy.

Management study became very popular due to the need of the hour for all kind or organisation. Due to the globalisation and need of different level hierarchy in the large organisation created opportunities for the managers with knowledge and experience of management. At present there are many management related courses in different educational institutions.

 

References:

Authrstream. (n.d.). Retrieved March 31, 2014, from www.authrstream: http://www.authorstream.com/presentation/bhavin2750-1324264-the-development-of-management-theory/

Wikipedia. (2014, March 31). Retrieved March 31, 2014, from Wikipedia.org: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki.Business_school

 

History of Higher Education in Engineering

History of Higher Education in Engineering

Submitted by Kukatlapalli Pradeep Kumar – Research Scholar              Christ University April 2014

The Roots of Engineering Education

Engineering education is the process of imparting knowledge and values in connection with the professional practice of engineering. The roots of engineering education was found in a movement which emphasized on engineering science and quality in engineering education. This movement took place at the end of World War II. Later on, the practical exposure in engineering undergraduate programs was not perceived due to lack of focus on the same. To resolve the issues in the engineering education, early 1980’s researcher bodies and different organizations piloted many studies. They agreed upon the common results achieved, to deliver strong base theory knowledge in all engineering institutions. They also concluded upon the exposure towards the societal context and the interdisciplinary research for engineering education as one among the initiatives of
the studies.

Indian Perspective with respect to Quality

The official approval and accreditation process for technical education in the country on quality assurance started in the year 1985 with ISTE (Indian Society for Technical Education). As per the AICTE (All India council for Technical Education) India, technical education not only mean Engineering, but also Management, Architecture, Pharmacy, Computer Applications, Hotel Management and Catering Technology, and Applied Arts and Crafts. The professional society ISTE is a program unit of MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource and Development) India. In the year 1994 the NBA (National Board of Accreditation) was established by the All India council for Technical Education. NBA as an association conducted many awareness programs, training programs, workshops on the quality of engineering education. It also focused on evaluation process and methodologies to be followed by the technical universities. However, the IISc also contributed towards the accreditation system, in which it was named as “Manyatha”. This could not attract the professors in the technical education in spite of its distinct features, and it also did not make further proceedings and updates on the same [1]. It is because of the NBA and NAAC accreditation initiatives, technical institutions could able to improve on the quality aspects with respect to the curriculum, industry institution interaction, Research and Development etc.,

Product Based Model Education

As the trend in technology is more towards product based models, there is need felt for transformations in engineering education. The engineering activities followed in the industry differs from the class room teaching in many ways. The product modelling and simulation environments have to be installed and updated on regular basis. The main challenge lies behind contributing to the already existing work with slight or major modifications. There is a need for formulating new courses in the institutions for the product based model architectures. The virtual system laboratories also have to be established and the laboratory hours have to be scheduled. Knowledge representations and application tools are to be connected with the engineering systems. With the newer results in research, the quantitative and qualitative approaches can be applied in engineering domain as well. The quantitative methods are relevant where a hypothesis or a theory justifies the direction of the research. The qualitative methods are more towards personal interviews, conclusions drawn from observations, data collection and analysis of the field work/surveys. For the product development systems a best method can be applied with respect to the area of engineering[2]. The National System of Innovation (NSI) aimed at higher education in collaborating government sector, Industry and fourth pillar organizations. The Fourth pillar organizations are innovation-enabling and multiplier organizations such as incubators,innovation support centers, technology transfer centers, andtechnology demonstrators. The helix model and the triple helix paradigm also can impact the higher education system [3].

Interdisciplinary Approach and UTAUT

The interdisciplinary approach with respect to natural sciences, social sciences can optimize the higher education structure in the education systems engineering to address various research problems [4].Usage of audio visual means will have a positive impact on the university education. These resources also help in improving the efficiency of teaching among the faculty fraternity.Service learning contributed to the transformation in engineering education, focusing on the self-learning, and development of professional and interpersonal skills.
Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) is a research theory which is intended to illustrate about the adoption and rejection of technology by the users. This model aims at verification of UTAUT adequacy on the information technologies in pedagogical process of Engineering Higher Education [5].

Information Technology and Engineering Education

Usage of computers and information technology leads to positive results in the engineering higher education. It not only develops education in engineering, but also the product development environments in and around the universities with high performance methods, tools and systems. The artifact developments depends on the sophisticated infrastructure with simulated environments. So the product development and the education in engineering can act as the real integration of academic systems with the field practice [6]. The teaching, projects and problem solving aspects has to be merged in the engineering education for effective exposure on to the student community. The course models and product models can be integrated to form a new and unique approach in engineering higher education.

Conclusion: Current Scenario of Engineering Education India

As far as engineering education in India is concerned, a recent study says that there is 10.4 percent increase in the number of engineering graduates on yearly basis. This number is more than that of China, South Korea, the UK, and USA.A study said that about 30 percent of the fresh engineering graduates are unemployed because of lack of quality in education pursued. This leaves a question on quality of graduates coming out from universities and colleges. These consequences results unemployment or underemployment in the nation. The engineering institutions in India are good at undergraduate programs, however lack in progressing towards the post-graduate and research oriented programs. One of the reasons is, undergraduate students not opting for M.Tech and other technical related PG programs.

References

1. Prof. R. Natarajan former chairman AICTE, former director, IIT madras; “The origins and history of accreditation of technical education programs in India”, IEEE conference proceedings.       
2. JózsefGáti and GyulaKártyásÓbuda University, Budapest, Hungary; “New Challenges in Engineering Higher Education”IEEE conference proceedings.
3. Andre’ Hattingh, Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa; “Higher Engineering Education in the 21st century” June 2003 IEEE conference proceedings.
4. Sun Shaorong, ZongLiyong University of Shanghai for Science and Technology. Shanghai, China; “Systems Engineering Methods in the Study of Higher education Structure Optimization” 2009.
5. Bertil P. Marques, Dep. Eng. Informática – ISEP, GILT- Graphics, Interaction and Learning Technologies Porto – PORTUGAL; “Applying the UTAUT model in Engineering Higher Education: Teacher's Technology Adoption”.
6. JózsefGáti and GyulaKártyás, Óbuda University Budapest, Hungary; “Computer System Support for Higher Education Programs in Engineering”, IEEE conference proceedings.

History of commerce education

History of Commerce Education

Lakshmi J

1340102

Field of commerce and industry as a specialisation has become necessary due to the rapid growth of business. The discipline of commerce was first started by private institutions. When we check the history of commerce as a higher education is nearly 102 years old. In the beginning only book keeping was taught. And later on many private institutions started teaching book keeping and accountancy. For such an education, Madras became a pioneer state where it started in 1886. The Government of Madras laid the foundation of commerce education by setting-up commercial institute in Madras. Two other institutions were established during the next ten years (by 1896).  Government of India also started Commerce College at Calicut and Presidency College at Calcutta. In India Commerce education at University level made its first beginning in 1913 when Sydenham College of commerce and economics was established by Bombay, since then there has been steady increase in commerce courses and its related branches all over India, there is hardly any university or college which don’t have commerce department.

In the beginning of this century Calcutta Presidency College also introduced the teaching of commerce (1903). By about that time it was also introduced in Delhi. One more commercial institution was started in Bombay in 1912. In 1920's (1921-22) the first Fiscal Commission was set-up and this commission made certain important recommendations In the light of these recommendations some major improvements were vis­ible in various industrial fields especially in the field of iron and steel industry, sugar industry, tea industry, cotton industry and jute indus­try.

A very rapid growth of commercial educational institutions was observed during 1920-40. The Indian Institute of Bankers was estab­lished in 1926, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India was established in 1934. Later on in 1944, Institute of Works and Cost Accountants of India was established. In 1955, the Federation of Insurance Institutes was established.

In the early part of 19th century commerce education and training programs were formally started through as vocational courses intended for meeting the requirements of different local cadres in business and industry as also in government department. Commerce courses were formally elevated to the level of undergraduate graduate and post graduate and by 1930 many universities and colleges in the country introduced B Com and M Com commerce training programs suitable for those seeking commerce course after 12 . After that a number of commercial institutes were established in the country during 1920-40, The Indian Institute of Bankers was established in 1926. The Institute of Chartered Accountants was established in 1934 The federation of insurance institutions was established in 1955, commerce courses proliferated in India at the school college and university level during this period. Commerce education is defined as practical training however unfortunately in India it is more of theoretical education rather than focusing on practical aspect of the education it happened due to lack of infrastructure facilities lack of trained . Main drawback of commerce education at college and university level is lack of dynamism and emphasis of theory than practical aspect lack of co-ordination between universities and professional bodies, lack of uniformity and standardization of course content, absence of clear cut objective before the student community , inadequate method of modern teaching, lack of practical experience to both teacher and student. Commerce teacher is Jack of all trade who is expected to teach all the subjects. In earlier days commerce programs were linked to clerical and accounting personnel only. However due to demand and after economic liberalisation in India things have started changing many institutes offering practical exposure in the field of accounting banking taxation payroll e commerce have emerged successfully one of premier institute in India offering such type of practical training is The Institute of Professional Accountants Delhi – India engaged in enhancing the practical skills of students and making them employable with industry.

To cope with the increasing demand for the trained people to transact commercial and governmental jobs, it became essential to introduce the commerce education at school level.

To start with the teaching of short-hand and typing was intro­duced in Government schools and aided schools and afterwards the teaching of commerce was introduced in such schools. Now the com­merce education has been included in the school curriculum.

Chattapadhya (1987) stated that the objectives of commerce courses remained unclear till independence. After twelve years of independence the Indian National Government appointed the Special Committee for Commerce Education under the chairmanship of Dr. V.K.R.V. Rao, then Director of the Institute of economic Growth, Delhi in 1985. The committee emphasized mainly on three points so far as Commerce education is concerned. Firstly, Commerce courses of different Universities had to provide the infrastructure of professional education in Accountancy and cost accountancy etc. but also to pave the way for specialization in different disciplines included in the courses. Secondly, Commerce education imparted by the universities was not to be regarded as the competitor of professional courses, its role was complementary. Thirdly, commerce education and management education should be considered on discrete plans. From the Rao Committee’s recommendations, it has been revealed that no effort was made to professionalize the commerce education rather it was regarded as the facilitator of different professional courses. Most universities believed at that time that professional education conducted by the Indian Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the Institutes of Cost and Works Accountants of India were equivalent to B. Com only, not M. Com. The special Committee for Commerce Education stressed that students should study post graduate course of commerce for further academic pursuits as well as for diversion into professional courses. That committee also emphasized that in M.Com course the students should be able to pursue research as well as to fill up the post of commerce teachers in different colleges and universities. Since then the commerce education has been remaining as a traditional education for which a separate branch named as Business education emerged.

Now, there is a great demand for office workers who can type readily and accurately, take and transcribe notes quickly and correctly, keep financial records and operate busi­ness machines effectively. In addition it has been discovered that type writing and other commercial subjects can make valuable contribu­tions to the general education of the students".In the new scheme of education (I.C. 10+2+3 pattern of educa­tion) sufficient attention has been paid to commerce education in Indian schools. In addition to shorthand and typing some more sub­jects that have been included for teaching in commerce are as follows:

(I) Book-keeping and Accountancy,

(II) Commercial mathematics,

(III) Sectarian practice,

(IV) Commercial English / Hindi,

(V) Commercial Law,

(VI) Industrial law,

(VII) Taxation,

(VIII) Income Tax,

(IX) Salesmanship,

(X) Applied economics,

(XI) Public relations, and

(XII) Advertising.

The teaching of Commerce subjects starts from XI class and in class XII the syllabus is quite advanced. Many a commercial subjects are also taught in vocational institutes.

At present commerce education is considered as good education because of the distinct advantages that a commerce student has over his counter-part in the arts faculty. It is believed that a commerce student not only achieves just training and perfection, but also a general professional intelligence.

Commerce as a Discipline- Global perspective.

·         1819 – The world's first business school, ESCP Europe was founded in Paris, France. It is the oldest business school in the world and now has campuses in Paris, London, Berlin, Madrid, and Torino.

·         1855 - The Institut Supérieur de Commerce d'Anvers (State funded) and the Institut Saint-Ignace - École Spéciale de Commerce et d'Industrie (Jesuits education) were founded in the same year in the city of Antwerp, Belgium. After almost 150 years of business education and rivalry between catholic and state education, the successors of both institutions have merged in 2003 to the University of Antwerp.

·         1857 – The Budapest Business School was founded in the Austrian Empire as the first business school in Central Europe. It is the oldest public business school in the world

·         1871 – The Rouen Business School recently merged with Reims Management School under the name of NEOMA Business School. Rouen Business School is one of the oldest French business school.

·         1881 – The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is the United States' first business school.

·         1898 – The University of St. Gallen established the first university in Switzerland teaching business and economics.

·         1900 - The first graduate school of business in the United States, the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, was founded. The school conferred the first advanced degree in business, specifically, a Master of Science in Commercial Sciences, the predecessor to the MBA.

·         1902 - The Birmingham Business School is the United Kingdom's first business school. Originally established as the School of Commerce was established in Birmingham, United Kingdom.

·         1906 – The Warsaw School of Economics (SGH) was established as the first university in Poland dedicated to teaching commerce and economics.

·         1908 - Harvard Business School was founded at Harvard University. It was the first program in the world to offer the Master of Business Administration degree.

·         1946 – The Thunderbird School of Global Management, then called the American Institute for Foreign Trade, was the first graduate management school focused exclusively on global business.

·         1949 – The University of Pretoria in South Africa founded the oldest business school in Africa. In January 2008 the Graduate School of Management was formally replaced by the Gordon Institute of Business Science.

·         1949 - XLRI - India's oldest business management school is founded.

·         1954 - The Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), University of Delhi is among one of the oldest business schools in India.

·         1955 - The Institute of Business Administration, Karachi was the first business school to be established outside North America to offer an MBA degree.

·         1991 – The IEDC-Bled School of Management was the first business school to offer an MBA program in Eastern Europe.

·         1994 – CEIBS (China Europe International Business School) was the first business school in China to have received funding from a foreign government, namely the European Commission.

 

Conclusion

Commerce education has gained a lot of importance currently due to the rapid growth in business and industry. Starting from just book keeping in early 1800’s currently the study focuses more on specialised areas.

 

 

References:

 Lecturer notes shared by Professor Neetu Patyal through Skype on 29/03/2014

  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_school