I did my schooling in India right upto A levels.
Yes, you are right, almost every principle/theory/concept is taught
bottoms-up. The education philosophy is highly different from the
one in Singapore. I can sum up the education philosophy of
Singapore as "Jack of all trades and master of none"!!. Here we
seem to get taught many concepts/methodologies, (some very latest
ones too), but nothing gets taught in depth. I have studied
polytechnic as well as degree here and its the same story. Teachers
and lectures seem to be more interested in imparting application
skills rather than conceptual foundation. Meaning, you might be
able to use a particular concept/theory/methodology to design
something without even understanding fully what that concept/theory
or methodology means. The result is .......... you lack strong
foundation!!!You might get to know how to "do" a lot of things but
you seldom will be a master of any one of them.
However the Singapore system has advantages too, just as there are
disadvantages to the system in India. Here in Singapore you will
get to work on /study some of the very latest developments in the
industry, the technological exposure is up to date. However in
india you might not be exposed to the latest developments, you
might be "stuck" with things that might be obsolete in the real
world. Also the infrastructure in India does not come anywhere near
to the ones in Singapore. The instruments, Labs, workstations,
sports facilities (and almost everything else) is antiquated. There
wont be any glamor or glitz associated with Indian
universities.
And living in India...............thats a different ball game all
together!!!
So if you are looking for rigorous, hard core, conceptual
education, India might be the place for you. There are umpteen
lecturers at NUS and NTU who are from India. I am sure you can get
in touch with any one of them for more info.
Btw, dont worry about cost of education or of living...its dirt
cheap compared to our "first world" Singapore.
