Is enthusiasm for engineering fading in India? A closer look at recent trends

“My child will be an engineer.” This phrase is heard in many households in India as parents prepare their children for a future in engineering. For years, this has been a common aspiration, and many students are encouraged—sometimes even pressured—to take science in grade 11 with the ulterior motive of turning them into engineers. After all, India is home to some of the world's most prestigious engineering institutes, such as the IITs. But here's a surprising twist to the dream of “great Indian engineering”: Despite this long-standing trend, there is a growing number of vacancies in engineering colleges across the country.
A recent example is Maharashtra. According to media reports, almost one in three engineering seats in the state remain vacant this year. The Maharashtra state Common Entrance Test (CET) department reported that out of 160,000 available engineering seats, only 112,000 students have confirmed their admission, a vacancy rate of 31%.
This is not an isolated case. In Ahmedabad, after the online application rounds for engineering courses, the admission committee had to announce another round to fill around 1,000 vacant seats this year. In Telangana too, spot applications were held for the first time to fill vacant seats in universities. In Tamil Nadu, over 100,000 engineering seats remained vacant in 2024 even after two rounds of counselling.
On the other hand, the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2023 released by the Ministry of Education revealed surprising statistics. Enrolments in regular engineering courses declined by 10%, from 40.85 lakh in 2016-17 to 36.63 lakh in 2020-21.

Source: All India Survey on Higher Education (old report)
Meanwhile, a report by the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) showed that engineering is no longer the most popular course choice among Indian students as science has overtaken it. The data showed a significant decline in the number of students opting for engineering through the GRE: from 34% a decade ago to just 17% in 2021-22.
The AISHE report identified several driving factors for this decline. A key reason is that students are increasingly being offered new courses that provide alternative career options. In particular, the report found that Bachelor of Engineering (BE) and Bachelor of Technology (BTech) were the only major undergraduate courses to experience such a decline.
Moreover, BTech and BE courses have witnessed a steady decline over the last five years as job opportunities in core fields have decreased. Neeti Sharma, co-founder and president, TeamLease Edtech, while speaking to PTI, pointed out that the hiring of freshers by IT companies has dropped from 26% of all graduates in FY22 to 15% and 10% in FY23 and FY24 respectively.

Key factors driving the decline in engineering enrollment

Here are some major factors causing the decline in engineering enrollment in India:
Increasing competition: Every year, hundreds of thousands of students prepare for the highly competitive Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) which gives admission to prestigious institutions like the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and Government Funded Technical Institutes (GFTIs). In addition, various states and institutes conduct their own entrance exams like BITSAT, SRMJEE, VITEEE, MET, KCET, MHCET and WBJEE. The intense competition and limited number of seats in the top engineering colleges contribute to the declining interest in engineering courses.
High costs: Engineering education in India is expensive. The average fee for a BTech course ranges from INR 300,000 to INR 190,000 per year in private colleges, while government colleges charge between INR 400,000 to INR 100,000. Prospective students should visit the official websites of engineering colleges to know exact fee details.
New alternatives: In recent years, there has been a sudden increase in demand for data science and analytics and information technology among students, which can also be considered a factor in the decline:

Employment challenges: A recent media report based on Right to Information (RTI) requests from IIT Kanpur found that around 8,000 IIT graduates across 23 campuses were jobless in 2024. The World Economic Forum has highlighted that only one in five engineers and one in ten graduates entering the workforce are considered employable. This trend is attributed to rapidly changing job requirements and technological advancements. The AISHE report 2020-21 also noted a decline in enrollment in engineering courses, reflecting the evolving landscape of job market requirements.