Foreign publisher ties up with GTU for tech books

Pearson Education on Tuesday released nine titles based on the GTU’s curriculum,and the group’s assistant vice-president (Sales) Naval Shukla said 24 books have been prepared for GTU students in all.

According to Shukla,the “customised publishing” operations of the company total about 600 million dollars in the US,and the present release is the first time Pearson is doing in India for a publicly-funded university.

He said: “In India,there is a smaller segment in this sector,and we do that mainly for professors in private universities. They tell us what kind of reference materials they want for their courses,and we prepare the books.”

He admitted it was more difficult to do so for publicly-funded universities since “they cannot be seen to be leaning towards one particular company.”

Shukla said foreign universities are easier to collaborate with than Indian varsities. “Universities abroad are usually single campus institutes. In India,a university is an administrative office,and the colleges are spread throughout the state. So we have to approach each college individually,making marketing more challenging,” he said.

GTU Vice-Chancellor Akshai Aggarwal said publishing houses study the curriculum of the universities and publish a book accordingly.

GTU has 495 affiliated colleges in the state.

He refused to comment on Pearson’s just-released titles saying he had not seen them,but agreed that students tend to rely on ‘bazaar notes’ and comprehensive quality books are welcome.

“Another big problem,especially in the under-graduate courses,is that students are recommended a number of books. But the exam papers are usually set using only one of them. So students who have not read that particular book may face difficulty during exams. So a single book covering the curriculum could be very good for UG students. But it would also depend on whether or not the publishing house is reputed,and whether or not it has good editors and experience,” he said.