Engineering is a well respected profession in India. More and more students are choosing engineering as an undergraduate major and also as a career path. As a career, it is seen as a means to upward mobility. Today as per statistics – India graduates the largest number of engineers after China at around 350,000 per year.1
Engineering has long been seen as a safe profession in India. If nothing else, it meant that a person would have a steady income. Until the mid nineties, an engineer would finish his degree and if he or she was from a good engineering school, would head to the USA for a PHD and then settle down in the country pursuing a career in engineering. The nineties saw an influx of software engineers migrate to the USA, not necessarily more qualified but who could be hired for less money than their American counterpart.
The 21st century has seen a different trend. With the onset of technical outsourcing to India and other cheap foreign destinations from the USA and Europe, engineering degrees and careers have taken a whole new meaning in India. The last ten years has seen a lot of low skilled as well as software testing work shift to destinations like India due to the lower cost of labor. Several engineers of Indian origin in the USA are electing to go back as more and more opportunities emerge in India due to rapid globalization and shifting of technology related work to low cost destinations such as India.
Engineering has long been seen as a safe profession in India. If nothing else, it meant that a person would have a steady income. Until the mid nineties, an engineer would finish his degree and if he or she was from a good engineering school, would head to the USA for a PHD and then settle down in the country pursuing a career in engineering. The nineties saw an influx of software engineers migrate to the USA, not necessarily more qualified but who could be hired for less money than their American counterpart.
The 21st century has seen a different trend. With the onset of technical outsourcing to India and other cheap foreign destinations from the USA and Europe, engineering degrees and careers have taken a whole new meaning in India. The last ten years has seen a lot of low skilled as well as software testing work shift to destinations like India due to the lower cost of labor. Several engineers of Indian origin in the USA are electing to go back as more and more opportunities emerge in India due to rapid globalization and shifting of technology related work to low cost destinations such as India.
History of Engineering in India**************
Engineering in India picked up momentum in 1947 after India’s independence from British rule.Engineering was considered a well-respected and stable profession. It was heavily dominated by men. The eighties saw a steady increase in women that took it up as a profession. The nineties saw a steady increase in computer engineering as more and more venues opened for Indian engineers in India and North America in the field of software programming.
Current state of Engineering in India*********************
With the high economic growth rate in India and rapid globalization of technical services worldwide, engineering in India is poised to climb to the next level. Plans are underway to revamp the engineering education system and make it more answerable to emerging global demands.
Engineering Education*************************
Engineering education in India has long been dominated by the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Regional Engineering Colleges. The Indian Institute of Technologies have earned a reputation for graduating outstanding engineers who have risen to the top of their profession globally. However, critics call it more a phenomena of admitting the best and not necessarily the institutes having top-notch professors. Other engineering colleges such as the Regional Engineering Colleges have also made huge strides. But the majority of the engineering colleges in India rely on rote as the teaching methodology. There is an increasing awareness that the engineering education system has to be revamped. Reports reveal that only 25% of the engineering graduates are employable. Several companies have set-up their own training institutes to fill the gap between what the education system delivers and what is needed in the market place. Also there is a dearth of engineers in areas other than software engineering. Because of opportunities and prevailing trends, most engineers gravitate towards computer engineering. This has exposed a gap in engineering skills for other professions – some that are just emerging as competitive areas.
Engineering in India compared to engineering in North America and Europe*********************
Engineering profession in India is still evolving. Though Indian engineers are often considered the best in their mathematical abilities, R&D and high level engineering work still lags in India. The Indian industry recognizes this and is fast catching-up. They offer India as a low-cost destination for multinationals looking to reduce costs for high level work such as Research and Development. India has been especially successful in putting her engineers to work in several back-office functions. Many of them are employed in technical support. A lot of Indian companies also send their engineers on assignments to Europe and North America because they provide low-age alternative to local engineers. This helps the Indian companies to win contracts due to the price differential. This advantage has helped the software industry in carving out a niche for itself as a low cost, quality provider of technical work. Civil engineering is also gaining ground in India. Because of the impetus on infrastructure, civil engineers are well in demand. However this demand is domestic only. Another emerging area is bio-medical engineering that is being pushed by the government. However, some other fields of engineering are not well-developed such as offshore, nuclear etc. The reason is a lack of private participation in these industries.
Challenges facing engineers in India****************
Several challenges face engineers in India. The most important is access to state of the art engineering education that adheres to international best practices. The other is the availability of well paying jobs in the field of Research and Development that help to propel innovation. Also as companies become more global, Indian engineers have to figure out a way in which to respond to challenges thrown by the global economy and become accustomed to project management on a global scale.
Opportunities for Engineers*********************
Opportunities for engineers are increasing at an exponential rate. Besides opportunities in Software and Civil Engineering, demands are being felt in other engineering fields such as bio-medical, petroleum and automotive engineering. As industries related to these fields, evolve and grow, so will the engineers specializing in these fields.
Products and Services being developed in the Indian Market****************
Major industries of India include automobiles, cement, chemicals, consumer electronics, food processing, machinery, mining, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, steel, transportation equipment, and textiles. However, there is a large difference in the salaries offered to engineers in these industries and those in the software industry with salaries in the software industry being higher. As these industries grow and become increasingly international in nature, engineering salaries will rise and they will be able to narrow the gap.
To be eligible for a diploma in engineering, one must clear the 10th Std. board exam successfully.Admission is based on marks scored in Std. X board exam. To be eligible for bachelor's degree course, one must clear the 12th std. board exam successfully in the science stream with Physics, Chemistry and Maths as compulsory subjects. Several states and IITs have an entrance exam for admission into engineering, colleges in other states grant admission based on marks scored in 12thStd. exam, particularly in the subjects of Physics, Chemistry and Maths. Diploma holders can alsoget direct admission into second year of engineering in the same stream in which they have completed their diploma. For a master's level course, one must complete the bachelor's degree program successfully. Further Studies After graduating students can go in for postgraduate studies in India or abroad that will culminate in a master’s degree. Further studies up to Ph.D. level is also an option.
