In most of the universities in India , statistics curriculum followed at undergraduate and graduate level, is completely outdated. The content taught, is relevant to times where there were:

  • No computational capabilities - All computations had to be performed with paper and pencil.

  • No graphing capabilities - Either  All graphs had to be generated with pencil, paper, and a ruler. (And complicated graphs—such as those requiring prior transformations or calculations using the
    data—were especially cumbersome.)

  • Very small and very expensive data sets - Data sets were small (often not more than four to five points) and could be obtained only with great difficulty.

In other words, the situation is almost entirely the opposite of our situation today:

  • Computational power that is essentially free.

  • Interactive graphing and visualization capabilities on every desktop.

  • Often huge amounts of data.

Then “Why do universities cling to outdated syllabi ? ” , is a question that leaves me puzzling.