Why Engineering Education is Losing Charm among Students in India? A Discussion

After a significant expansion in the number of engineering institutions and intake capacity in India for almost a quarter century, i.e., between 1991-2014, a deceleration has been experienced. At a time when technical intensity has increased, even for non-technical sector, and the primacy is to achieve Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 for which technology needs to play a central role, deceleration in enrolment may not be a good sign. In this background, the paper discusses probable reasons like existing high unemployment among engineers, high cost of private engineering education, and inability of institutions to impart employability skills which fade away their chances to get employed in future too, for this falling enrolment. Moreover, medical education has experienced expansion in the recent past. Generally, software, and IT firms impart their own training after recruiting fresh graduates so they tend to recruit engineers of any branch or even science graduates, where the cost of getting a degree is lower than engineering. Use of emerging technologies in business has made the engineering labour market quite dynamic and is changing the old paradigm of workplace, working hours, static employable skills, etc.