Scientific and engineering knowledge is witnessing meteoric growth owing to the accelerating rate of technology introduction and its adoption in everyday life. Technology is opening new doors every day, and technical progress is part of all societal developments. Thus, it is imperative to develop technologists, business leaders, and a workforce that benefits from these transformative technologies.
This is one of the reasons why engineering education is growing leaps and bounds.
Initially the basic streams of engineering were electrical, civil and mechanical, which soon diversified to include computer science, telecommunications, chemical, automobile and biomedical engineering, besides others.
Interdisciplinary
In the recent past, interdisciplinary engineering streams have gained popularity. This includes mechatronics, nano science, robotics, fibre optics, metallurgy and aerospace and marine engineering. Now, emerging technology is shaping engineering study with courses on artificial intelligence, photonics and optical signal processing, robotics and machine learning, cloud computing and virtualisation technology, mobile computing, game design and augmented reality, and Big Data analytics, to name a few.
Studying engineering will present many career opportunities. With an engineering degree, one may find a job in not just the same area as one’s core specialisation but also in other allied areas as an academician, government officer, a defence /police personnel, bureaucrat, researcher, software engineer, app developer, technical writer, entrepreneur...the list is endless.
As technology becomes increasingly ingrained into every facet of our lives, the convergence between engineering and society will also increase. The role of engineers in our day to day lives is evident, be it in telecommunication, banking, health, travel, education, or business — engineers make the world easy to navigate and affordable.
Perhaps, it is time the public understood how engineers play a vital role — mainly, so that they are appreciated and second, to prepare and guide their wards to pursue an engineering education. It has been approximated that there are more than 4,000 engineering streams being taught around the world.
Choose wisely
Choosing a stream of engineering education is indeed a difficult and crucial decision to make. Before choosing, it is important to know which particular stream or branch of engineering you wish to specialise in and what your aptitude is.
If you are not sure, seek guidance from someone from the academia or industry. There are also some institutions that offer course that provide basic engineering knowledge in the first two years, and then allow you to concentrate on one or two areas of specific interest in the next two years.
Take effort to understand each branch of engineering carefully. Look up its syllabus and curricula, the current and future opportunities in the job market or the scope for further research.
Unless it is a nationally or internationally renowned institute, take utmost care to learn about it — affiliations, courses offered, faculty (especially their qualifications and scientific contributions like research publications, patents and books), alumni, and campus placements (offers received by students, companies that come to recruit, and average salary offered, and so on).
While many details are available online, you could connect with a few alumnae through social media, especially LinkedIn to get more feedback on the college under consideration.
The writer is academician (engineering education) and senior consulting engineer for IoT-based low cost medical devices.
