Relevance of engineering in the age of AI

Which college? Which branch? These questions plague millions of students entering higher education every year.

- B Ravi

As AI transforms the job market, engineering education must blend core knowledge with digital skills and humanities for sustainable careers, writes NIT Karnataka Surathkal director

Their parents and teachers are equally clueless - no one can confidently say which professional degrees will provide sure-shot high-value jobs in 2030 and beyond.

During the 1980s, engineering graduates flocked to large-scale public sector units like BHEL, NTPC, ONGC and SAIL as well as private companies like Bajaj, L&T, Mahindra and Tata Motors. However, globalisation and liberalisation led to intense competition. This forced many of these companies to adopt low-cost automation and reduce the intake of engineering graduates, replacing them with diploma engineers.

The rise of IT-enabled services during 2000-2020, promoted by industry bodies like NASSCOM, gave birth to a large number of software service companies. Some of them, like HCL, Infosys, TCS and Wipro, grew rapidly and recruited lakhs of fresh engineering graduates every year, giving wings to middle-class dreams. Several global MNCs set up their R&D offices in India, paving the way for Global Competency Centres (GCCs).

The above two factors decline of core engineering jobs in the manufacturing sector and rise of software service jobs in the IT sector resulted in greater demand for computer and related branches of engineering. Most of the colleges reduced the number of seats in core branches, and increased them in computer branches. Many teachers of core engineering branches were either forced to leave, or learn how to teach computer courses.

The next 5 years: AI and jobs