Greetings from the Bangalore Club

At the Bangalore Club

Greetings from the Bangalore Club, in downtown Bengaluru. I am in India for a wedding, and our hosts have put up the wedding party at their club. The club was Founded in 1868 for British officers, and is an oasis of tranquility in the bustle of the city. The club is a good metaphor for India, and Bengaluru is particular, rushing headlong into a high tech future, while attempting to retain traditions, and come to terms with its colonial past. 

Each day I receive a newspaper under the door (yes, they still provide newspapers at the Club, which can be read in the stuffed leather chairs). Sunday's headline was "Skills training: An incomplete solution to India's jobs crisis" (Deccan Herald,  E T B Sivapriyan, 23 April 2023). The article took up most of pages one and two, indicating the importance given to education in India. The issues are very similar to Australia: How useful is formal training in getting a job? Why are so many students failing to complete? Are they getting the right skills? Do centrally funded training programs work?  

If Australia can work out solutions to these issues domestically, there is potential for export of training systems to India. But it might be better to work with India, on common solutions, than assume Australia has all the answers.

Anything Happening in Singapore or India in April?

Singapore Fintech Festival, 2022 

I will be in Singapore April 4 & 26 to 28, Goa 6 to 19, and Bengaluru 21 to 24. Any education or computing events I can help with, while there? Any conferences or events I can attend, or anyone, I should visit? I get a bit bored looking at museums. ;-)

On my visit to Singapore last year I have a talk on work integrated learning at the Singapore Institute of Technology, on Sustainable Computing at EduTech Asia, was on a panel about satellite data security with government officials, and attended the Fintech Festival, plus Predict22's Cyber-security Summit.

I see Microsoft Research is a few hundred meters from where I am staying in Bengaluru. Is that somewhere you can just wander into? I visited Microsoft Research Cambridge, but that was by invitation.