India and the USA: A Comparison through the Lens of Model IT Curricula

Abstract

This 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 (IT). 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. (Contains 3 tables.)