Why Civil And Mechanical Engineering Courses Have Lesser Enrolments In India

While Engineering is still the most coveted course in India, there are a lesser number of students wanting to opt for civil and mechanical branches of engineering. Computer Science and Electronics are increasingly taking the top spot in the choices of courses in Engineering. 

The parents and students have a mindset that computer science has better scopes in terms of placement and salaries. The experts feel that civil and mechanical engineering are the last options for those students who do not get into other engineering courses.

Least Enrollment In Civil And Mechanical Engineering

According to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) data from 2017 to 2021, the admission percentage has not even reached 50%in the Mechanical and Civil Engineering branches.

The admission percentage in Mechanical engineering was 47% in 2017, dipping to 43% in 2018. It went down to 40% in 2019 and further down to 36% in 2020. It increased to 43% in 2021. In Civil Engineering, the admission percentage was 47% in 2017, 43% in 2018, and 42% in 2019 and 2020. It rose to 48% in 2021.

In 2021, the admission percentage in Computer Science and Electronics was 84% and 67% respectively. In 2017, it was recorded at 63% and 48%, respectively.

Quality Of Faculty

Lakshmi Rao, a teacher in a private engineering college in Gurugram, while talking to The Print, said that quality of education and faculty is also a reason Mechanical and Civil Engineering sees less interest as compared to other branches.

“Forget about IITs, if you look at other government and private engineering colleges, the quality of faculty and education is not as good in Civil and Mechanical branches, because that’s not where colleges can make more money, so naturally they pay more attention to what can be profitable to them.”

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Tougher Work 

It is assumed that these branches of engineering are linked to tougher work. Students do not want to indulge in work that is outside their comfort zone. 

Anil Sahasrabudhe, chairman of the Executive Committee, National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), and former chairman of AICTE, who himself is a mechanical engineer by qualification, believe that there is no lack of employment opportunities in both streams, but students feel that the work is tougher in mechanical and civil engineering and hence avoid it.

“Mechanical and automobile industries are growing, not that there is no demand for these branches, but the job cannot be done sitting in AC rooms. They are all happening outside. People do not want to do the difficult work, step out outside and work.

They want comfortable jobs. We need to change this mindset about the jobs or else after 10-20 years, we will not have people to do the work of a Civil or Mechanical engineer.

Students should take up Mechanical engineering but along with it, they should also take up subjects like Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, so that they can do any job they want.”

Lesser Pay

Dheeraj Sanghi, vice-chancellor of J.K. Lakshmipat University in Jaipur and a former IIT Kanpur professor, said that it is the placements that make computer science an attractive field for students and parents.

He also emphasizes that parents don’t understand that it is not the branch but students’ merit which helps them bag better packages.

Sanghi says that there are not many employment opportunities for Computer Science Engineering and they do not get placed, while Civil Engineers get placed even if they don’t get huge packages. The lack of job opportunities in CS does not get much attention, he says. 

“Every parent who wants his son/daughter to get admission in engineering wants their child to earn fat packages. The biggest salaries that one sees are in Computer Science, hence more admissions take place there.

Most engineering colleges have the option that if you perform well in the first year of engineering, you can get a CS or Electronics branch and most bright students opt for that. In most colleges, the brightest students are from the CS branch and hence they get the highest package.”

These professionals believe that the amalgamation of all these reasons leads to lesser takers of civil engineering and mechanical engineering. Though, this does not take into account what the students actually have in mind before they opt for a course.

The increased emphasis on Artificial Intelligence and software creation has made mechanical work redundant, and a disjuncture between theory and practice might be the reasons why students do not opt for these branches of engineering.

Image Credits: Google Images

Sources: The Print, AICTE data, NAAC

Find the blogger: Katyayani Joshi

This post is tagged under: education, engineering, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, colleges, government colleges, university, education system, parents, rich, poor, expensive, students, Engineering, computer, salaries, employment, work, faculty

Disclaimer: We do not hold any right, copyright over any of the images used, these have been taken from Google. In case of credits or removal, the owner may kindly mail us.

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