Engineering Stream Popularity Trends in Last 5 Years

Why do students choose to enroll in some engineering streams more? What affects the choice of engineering stream among the students? In this article, we have tried to understand which are some of the most popular engineering streams among the students and why.

Engineering Stream Popularity Trends in Last 5 Years

Does the popularity of engineering streams depend on the job scenario? Experts believe that it is one of the major factors. With Information Technology (IT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) entering our everyday lives the demands for streams like computer science, Data Science, AI, etc have increased. However, the rise in popularity of one engineering stream does not affect the importance of others. Till now, Computer Engineering is one of the most popular engineering streams as per the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) report.

Over the past 5 years, enrollment in the computer engineering stream has increased from 9 lakhs to 11 lakhs. The core engineering branches are still the most popular choices among engineering candidates. Mechanical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Civil Engineering, and Electrical Engineering are the top 5 engineering streams with the maximum number of enrollments at the undergraduate level over the past few years, as per AISHE.

Steadily, the engineering streams that are growing in popularity are Information Technology, Chemical Engineering, Agriculture Engineering and Aeronautical Engineering.

Under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the combination of major and minor courses within the broader stream has been introduced. This helps the candidates select one specialisation and also pursue one minor specialisation alongside. With the demand of the job market, many top engineering colleges in India offer minor course combinations of AI, Data Science, Digital Engineering, and others.

Also Read:

• Top Engineering Colleges in India other than IIT, NIT and IIIT

In Charts: Engineering Stream Popularity Trends in Last 5 Years (As Per AISHE Reports)

Over the past 5 years, the engineering stream popularity trends depicted that Computer Engineering is the most popular engineering stream followed by Mechanical Engineering.

Note that the data below has been compiled based on the past 5 recent reports of AISHE. 

Although the popularity of the Computer Engineering stream dipped between 2017 to 2019, it was picked up again in 2020. The highest number of enrollments has been in the year 2020-21 since 2016.

Graphical representation is as follows:

Engineering Stream v/s Number of students enrolled as per AISHE

Top 5 Popular Engineering Streams - Career Opportunities and Best Colleges

Here are the top 5 engineering streams that enjoy high popularity among the students:

#1. Computer Science Engineering

• Career Opportunities: After graduation from this course, candidates can look for opportunities in
  • Computer programming
  • System database administration
  • Software development
  • Data warehouse analysis
  • Research analysis
• Popular Colleges: Some top engineering colleges that offer Computer Science Engineering streams are:

#2. Mechanical Engineering

• Career Opportunities: In this field, graduate candidates can look for numerous opportunities in
  • Automotive engineering
  • CAD technicians
  • Control and instrumentation engineering
  • Maintenance engineers
  • Public Sector Undertakings (PSU Jobs).
• Popular Colleges: Some top engineering colleges that offer Mechanical Engineering streams are:

#3. Electronics & Communication Engineering

• Career Opportunities: This field offers various career paths to graduates, like:
  • Software engineering
  • Network design,
  • Web development
  • CAD engineering
  • Communication management
• Popular Colleges: Some top engineering colleges that offer Electronics & Communication Engineering streams are:

#4. Civil Engineering

• Career Opportunities: Graduates have a variety of career options, including:
  • Civil Engineering Technicians
  • Structural Engineers
  • Transportation Engineers
  • Civil Engineers
  • Water Resource Engineers
• Popular Colleges: Some top engineering colleges that offer Civil Engineering streams are:

#5. Electrical Engineering

• Career Opportunities: Career options are many for the graduates in this field:
  • Roles as industry professionals
  • Sales engineers
  • Engineering associates
  • Academic paths as professors or lecturers
• Popular Colleges: Some top engineering colleges that offer Electrical Engineering streams are:

Trending Engineering Stream with Lucrative Opportunity

• Career opportunities: Graduates from this stream can pursue a variety of career paths, including:
  • Machine learning engineering
  • Data science
  • AI research
  • Data analysis
  • Business intelligence analysis.
• Popular Colleges: Some top engineering colleges that offer Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, and Machine Learning (AI, DS, and ML) streams are:

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