Engineers by degree is OUT... Engineers by curiosity and skill is IN...

Will AI Kill Engineering Colleges in Bharat?

One of the silent but severe casualties of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution could be engineering colleges in Bharat. With over 3,500 engineering institutions across India, many of which were established during the IT boom, the AI wave is now acting as a stress test — exposing what’s outdated, inefficient, or simply irrelevant.

The Harsh Reality: AI Doesn’t Need Your Degree

AI is not just another “tech trend” — it’s a paradigm shift. It doesn’t ask where you studied. It asks:

• Can you solve real-world problems?

• Can you build, deploy, or integrate AI tools?

• Can you learn, adapt, and innovate?

In this new landscape, a 20-year-old with a laptop, access to ChatGPT, YouTube tutorials, and GitHub can outperform a degree-holder from a Tier 3 college. And companies are taking note.

Why Are Engineering Colleges at Risk?

1. Obsolete Curriculum

Most engineering colleges are still teaching programming as if it’s 2005. AI, prompt engineering, data science, or even modern DevOps tools are nowhere in the syllabus. When AI tools can write boilerplate code or automate testing, students need to learn why and how things work — not just what.

2. Low Employability

Even before AI, a report by Aspiring Minds showed that over 80% of engineering graduates in India were unemployable. AI has only accelerated this crisis by eliminating low-skill jobs that once served as a cushion for average grads.

3. Rise of Skill-Based Hiring

The job market is shifting. Platforms like LinkedIn, GitHub, Kaggle, and HackerRank are becoming more important than your college brand. Startups and even tech giants now hire based on portfolio and problem-solving ability, not campus placements or paper degrees.

4. Self-Learning Has Been Supercharged

Why pay ₹5–10 lakh for a 4-year engineering degree when:

• You can learn from Stanford or MIT lectures on YouTube?

• Take Google’s free AI and cloud certifications?

• Build AI models with help from ChatGPT?
  The Return on Investment (ROI) of many private colleges is rapidly approaching zero.

5. Unsustainable Infrastructure

Many colleges were set up with the assumption:

“Every family wants an engineer.”
But now, families are asking:
“Will this degree get my child a job?”
Expect mass consolidation, closures, or conversions of many colleges into polytechnics or skill development centres.

A Silver Lining: Reinvent or Perish

The crisis is real — but so is the opportunity.

Engineering colleges that accept the disruption and choose to reform boldly may emerge stronger. Here's how:

• Curriculum overhaul to include AI, ML, robotics, prompt engineering, and ethical tech.

• Project-based learning over rote exams.

• Faculty upskilling programs with direct ties to industry.

• Hackathons, open labs, and AI research cells instead of dusty lecture halls.

• Start-up incubation centres within colleges.

The Future Belongs to the Makers

The AI wave won’t spare the passive. But it will reward the curious, the creative, and the committed. The age of “engineers by degree” is fading. The age of “engineers by passion, curiosity, and capability” is here.

Let’s not mourn the death of outdated institutions.
Let’s celebrate the birth of a new engineering culture — rooted in inquiry, innovation, and impact.