“So the demand steadily dropped and colleges started to shut down the civil engineering departments. Most of them replaced it with IT/electronics or communication courses that offer higher salaries. Of the total 1700 engineering colleges, just some 200 would probably be offering civil engineering as a discipline,” says Prof Harish C Rai , Advisor, Engineering & Technology Bureau, AICTE.

K A N Prasad, Director General, National Construction Academy points out how in Hyderabad itself, of a total 50 colleges barely seven offer Civil Engineering. “Students are attracted to the IT industry instead as the salaries they pay is so much higher than one can expect in civil engineering. While this has been the scenario for a really long time, it changed only recently after the national highway development programme and JNUURM schemes came in along with a huge demand for civil engineers in the Middle East. So now while there are hiked pay packets, it will be some time before there are new civil engineers to take these up”, says Prasad.

The effect of the shortage is being felt across the infrastructure sector and is affecting both the progress and quality of construction. Consultants and contractors alike are complaining about the lack of engineers and more importantly, the lack of “good engineers.”

“Skills imparted to a civil engineer are unique and critical. Basically the skills related to structure and design are common between civil, mechanical and aerospace engineers. However, construction on land involves a good understanding of concrete, building material, reinforcement rods and so on and only civil engineers are equipped with this skill,” says Ravi Sinha, professor at IIT Mumbai’s Civil Engineering department. “Various construction technologies are also something only a civil engineer knows...While a civil engineer can easily move into the mechanical and other engineering disciplines, the latter cannot walk in so easily into his professional domain.”

... contd.