Different Types of Engineering Courses in India

There are so many engineering courses in India for students aspiring to have a career as an engineer. However, in order to decide which course they shall go for, they need to understand some very basic details to know which one suits best for them.

Engineering is one of the very celebrated professions in India. In fact, the craze for engineering in India is unlikely to be found anywhere else on the planet earth. It is often perceived as a reputed profession and is one of the very popular choices for students and their parents as well. With time, the craze for engineering has only increased and at this point in time engineering is the most popular stream of education among students and their parents.

There is no doubt about the fact that a good part of this world is driven by engineering and if we consciously look around there are a variety of things that are just some great products of engineering. Starting from the electricity supply to water supply to your homes and even the internet access you have includes pure engineering.

But you see, the example I just gave you includes so many types of engineering. While the electricity supply to your homes is made possible through electrical and power engineering, your houses and the entire infrastructure are made through civil engineering and your phone and laptop are products of electronics engineering. Well, it’s a never-ending list for there are so many types of engineering.

India is one of the countries which had more industries and factories set up from the pre-colonial era. We were producing and manufacturing things before even we started trading, exporting, and importing. So, naturally, the country gave employment opportunities to more people in the industrial sector which then led to this unmatchable wild popularity of engineering in India.

The times have changed and things are much different. Until very recently, it appeared that students do have much of a choice when it comes to choosing a professional stream of education and only students with relevant interest would go for other streams like medical, law, arts, history, and more.

While the remaining majority of the students would naturally go with engineering, for it allows the scope to pursue any profession in the future. Students started becoming bankers, lawyers, and what not even after completing their engineering.

Well, things have changed and the awareness is much more as compared to what it was then. Students are making informed decisions about their careers which is a very good thing. But the culture of valuing engineering over other streams is still very evident.

India roughly produces over 1.5 million engineering graduates every year. Well, if you don’t realize how big that number is, it is greater than the number of engineers produced by the USA, Japan, South Korea, and Iran combined.

Engineering in India

There are two, authoritative organizations that regulate the entire framework of undergraduate education and engineering courses offered as a part of them. These organizations are UGC and AICTE.

UGC

UGC stands for university grants commission, which is basically a central authority that regulates all the courses, colleges, universities, and institutions that offer undergraduate courses. Without the authorization of UGC, no institution in India can award any student with a degree certification. The commission holds the authority to allow or restrict universities from offering under graduation courses. Institutions found violating the regulations of UGC may be blacklisted meaning they won’t be able to offer any undergraduate degree certification courses.

AICTE

AICTE stands for All India Council for Technical Education, which is a board that regulates all the “technical courses” offered by any institution under graduation level. Mostly the engineering courses are the ones that are controlled and regulated by the AICTE.

The students wanting to pursue engineering must ensure that the colleges they apply for are authorized by these 2 bodies (UGC & AICTE).

Who Can Pursue Engineering Courses in India?

The normal procedure for pursuing engineering is after completing the higher secondary classes or the 12th standard, students have to appear for a joint entrance exam (JEE mains), and based on the rank they may qualify for JEE Advanced to get admissions in the top tier colleges like IIT or NIT or if they do not qualify for JEE Advanced, they may still get a seat at state colleges. Depending on their ranking they might get a government or private college to pursue engineering courses.

The choice of engineering courses depends upon the counseling process. The students have to give at least 3 engineering courses with colleges, they want to get into, and based on their ranking, they’ll get admission. Well, this is the usual process.

The condition for pursuing engineering is that the student must have completed their 12th in science stream. Students from the arts stream cannot pursue engineering, as the base requirement is to have mathematics and physics as mandatory subjects.

For students who did their diploma in engineering after 10th standard may also get admission in engineering for a bachelor’s degree. Although they’re not left with much choice. They’ll have to pursue the same course in B. Tech that they had in diploma. They’ll get admission directly in the 3rd semester as lateral entry students for the basic syllabus of the 1st year in B.Tech is already covered in their diploma syllabus.

Although to find the engineering college of their choice the students will have to appear for an entrance exam which is the same as the joint entrance exam but it is conducted by the state. Ranking better in this exam gives the students the opportunity to find admissions at top-level colleges.

So, these are the basic procedures and requirements to be able to pursue engineering courses in India. If you have completed your 12th in science or diploma in engineering, you may prepare for the joint entrance exam and find admission in any of the engineering colleges based on your ranking in the exam.

Also Read: Best Computer Courses After 12th Science

Different Types of Engineering Courses in India

Like it has already been mentioned there are many types of engineering courses that students can go for. Some of the courses are wildly popular while others are usually pursued by students who are passionate about a specific subject or want a career ahead in those subjects.

Here is a list of different types of engineering courses in India:

• Electrical Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Computer Science Engineering
• Information and technology
• Electronics Engineering
• Electrical and Electronics
• Electronics and Telecommunication
• Civil Engineering
• Biochemical Engineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Plastic Engineering
• Automobile Engineering
• Metallurgy
• Agriculture and Food Engineering

These are only some of all the types of engineering courses in India. If I were to mention all the engineering courses in the list, then it would be way too long. These are some of the much-known engineering courses and most students prefer to pursue any of these courses.

It is quite obvious why these are more popular as compared to other engineering courses because these courses are associated with industries that are expanding and growing at a very rapid pace creating more employment opportunities at better pay.

Well, let’s try and understand the details of a few of the engineering courses understanding the career scope, subjects, fees, and more.

Best Engineering Courses in India

There is no such thing as the best engineering courses in India, however, there are definitely some very popular courses in India. Let’s try and understand the details of some of the most popular engineering courses in India.

• Electrical Engineering

Electrical engineering is often referred to as the royal branch for power is one of the most useful resources on the planet. Without electrical engineering, it is super difficult to get other engineering goals achieved. The demand for electrical engineering in India is quite good as the industry creates more government jobs than any other stream of engineering.

Resources like electricity are owned by the government, and that is the reason, electrical engineering students get to appear for more government jobs than any other stream of engineering. Although the placement will be not based on their graduation score, in fact, they’ll have to attend competitive exams to be able to get a job in the government sector.

Other than government jobs, the private industry when it comes to electrical operations and manufacturing companies are also quite active in the space generating more and more employment opportunities for the students. The salary of electrical engineering in both government and private sector is quite good.

At present, the solar industry is evolving rapidly, and the generation of electricity through solar energy will be the next big thing which many companies are focusing on. This is why new employment opportunities are being created in the solar domain and more electrical engineers are getting jobs.

The course duration is 4 years for students after 12th science, and 3 years for students after diploma. The placements for engineering students in the electrical domain are quite better than the kind of placements diploma students get.

Some of the biggest companies and organizations that generate plenty of employment opportunities for electrical engineering students are:

1. Tata Power
2. Adani Power
3. Siemens
4. Bajaj Electrical
5. V-Guard Industries
6. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited
7. State Electricity Board
8. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited
9. State Power Generation Corporations

These were some of the many employers which constantly employ electrical engineers and the salaries paid are also quite good. So, mentioned are some of the details that a student or an aspiring electrical engineer shall be aware of before going for electrical engineer.

The fees for electrical engineering really depend on what college a student is studying in. While in private colleges, depending upon the facilities, placement assistance, and more the fees could be more than 2.5-3 lakhs per year on average while in government colleges it will be INR 30,000 per year on average.

• Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical engineering, in simple words, is the study of design and construction combined with mathematics and physics. A good part of mechanical engineering deals with the study of objects in motion and their mechanism, while it also includes gears, pulleys, and things of that nature.

It is one of the very important and oldest engineering branches that remains a key element in some of the major work around us. It actually supports all other forms of engineers. Since mechanical engineering is about the study of gears, pulleys, and objects in motion, everything starting from production to construction requires the support of mechanical engineering.

In the production department, there is a good use of machines that work on the mechanism of gears, rack, and pinion, etc and some of the machines used such as turbines, late machines, grinding, milling, turning, etc are all operated, maintained and created using the study of mechanical engineering.

The job opportunities are quite good and diverse when it comes to mechanical engineering. The students who have completed their mechanical engineering may find placement in several departments such as manufacturing, generation, automobile sector, maintenance, etc.

Employers

The salaries paid are quite good and a majority of the placement opportunities are through private companies and organizations while some government organizations like NALCO, SAIL, and more look for placement opportunities. Some of the biggest employers in the mechanical domain are:

1. Ashok Leyland
2. General Motors
3. Tata Group
4. Mahindra
5. Appolo Tyres

These were some of the very details that the students who aspire to become mechanical engineers or are already pursuing mechanical engineering shall be aware of in order to make good decisions. Just like any other stream of engineering the fees for mechanical engineering varies depending on the nature of college and the facilities offered, For government colleges, it can be around INR 30,000 per year on average while for private college it can be INR 2.5-3 Lakhs pers year on average.

Mechanical Engineering has quite some interesting subjects that speak a lot about the nature of the course, the kind of jobs students can expect, and more. Here are some of the subjects in the mechanical engineering course:

Subjects

• Thermodynamics
• Solid Modelling and Drafting
• Solid Mechanics
• Turbo Machines
• Kinematics of Machinery

Job Roles

The following are some of the job roles which aspiring mechanical engineers can look forward to when they graduate and apply for jobs and placements:

• Quality Assurance Engineer
• Automation Engineer
• Research and Design Engineer
• Senior Mechanical Engineer
• Senior Design Engineer
• Powertrain Engineer
• Instrumentation Engineer

Companies often have these positions for mechanical engineers and the salaries for such positions are also quite good. These are some of the key reasons, mechanical engineering is considered one of the best engineering courses in India.

• Civil Engineering

Civil engineering is quite the popular stream of engineering that many students aspire to pursue post completion of their higher secondary education. Civil engineering is considered one of the best engineering courses in India as it also has plenty of benefits.

The employment opportunities after completing civil engineering are quite well paying and have brilliant scope in the near future. The infrastructure around us starting from apartments to malls, bridges, and more are all made by civil engineers.

The work takes a lot of precision in designing, measurement, for there cannot be any mistakes in the real structure. After electrical engineering, if any stream of engineering has massive scope in the government sector, it is civil engineering. It is a very potential industry that is going to expand to an even bigger and more opportunistic space in the near future.

Employers

As mentioned already, there are a lot of companies and organizations both in the private and government sector that actively recruit civil engineers. Some of the biggest and top employers who hire civil engineering students are:

1. Larsen and Toubro
2. Aditya Birla Group
3. Ultra Tech Cement
4. Essar Group
5. DLF
6. Afcons Infrastructure

These are only some of all the top employers who actively recruit students from civil engineering backgrounds. As already mentioned in the previous engineering courses in India, fees for civil engineering courses too vary depending upon the nature of the institution. For government institutions, the average fees can be INR 30,000 per month while private colleges usually charge INR 2.5-3 lakhs per year.

Subject

Since these engineering courses in India are so different from each other, the subjects in civil engineering are also very different and interesting. Let’s see what are some of the topics involved in civil engineering:

1. Building Technology and Architectural Planning
2. Mechanics of Structure
3. Fluid Mechanics
4. Engineering Geology
5. Structural Analysis
6. Concrete Technology

So, these are some of all the subjects involved in civil engineering that are very practical and used in pretty much every infrastructure that we see around. Well, these subjects, the concepts, the practicality, and the usability is what make it one of the best engineering courses in India.

Job Roles

The following are some of the job roles that students can look forward to right after completing their engineering in the civil stream:

1. Site Engineer
2. Site Supervisor
3. Junior Civil Engineer
4. Project Engineer
5. Design Engineer

So, these were pretty much the very important details of the civil engineering course that you must know before applying for admissions in order to decide well.

Other Engineering Courses in India

Many traits of all these engineering courses in India are similar. The subjects and job opportunities might be different, but the characteristics of the courses remain the same. Engineering is one such course that gives you the flexibility to apply for most of the jobs starting from the banking sector to marketing.

Other than medical, the students who have pursued engineering can literally apply for most of the jobs. Some of the engineering courses in India that are booming at an extraordinary pace are Information & Technology and Computer Science Engineering.

The software industry is expanding at a very rapid pace, and the students who are pursuing this course literally have exposure to a huge number of opportunities and it will only get better in the coming years. So, the mentioned engineering courses in India possess quite some potential in them for the students can expect a good career post completion of such engineering courses in India.

FAQs

Q. What is the requirement to pursue engineering courses?

Ans- The students must have completed their higher secondary education (12th) in the science stream or equivalent (diploma) in engineering from a recognized board to be able to pursue engineering courses in India.

Q. Which is the best engineering course in India?

Ans- There is no such thing as the best engineering courses in India, as the mentioned courses are all very potent and have massive opportunities for students ahead.

Q. What are the jobs for Engineers?

Ans- The job really depends upon which engineering course a student has completed, but students from engineering backgrounds have well-paying jobs especially when from the core branches like electrical, mechanical civil, or computer science.

Conclusion

These were some of the most important details that you need to know about different types of engineering courses in India. If you’re an aspiring engineer or looking forward to pursuing engineering after your higher secondary education, then these details will certainly be helpful in deciding the best choices for you.