Are engineers job-ready?

For engineering students, the world is changing rapidly, the air is thick with news on technological breakthroughs. Technological developments have created new challenges for engineers, demanding new practices in the engineering curriculum.

Hence, engineers should have a clear understanding and objective to implement a project. The success or failure of the project is based on the competence of the engineer, which cannot be taught.

It should be gained through experience. Industry-centric concerns have thus gained popularity in improving the competence of engineers.

Present-day students have specific career goals and students want to challenge themselves. Students pursue engineering, particularly for better career prospects in diverse directions. Hence, the engineering curriculum is expected to be rational and inculcate both technical knowledge and practical skills.

Government and educational institutions are investing billions of dollars in building engineering infrastructure in order to equip students with the latest technology. However, engineering involves experiential learning. To make students more competent, institutions should implement industry-specific and research-oriented curricula and training.

Some skills that engineers must embrace include crossover knowledge, design thinking and problem-solving.

Crossover teaching can be achieved by linking the educational content with insights from the industry.

Design thinking can be inculcated by means of exposing students to real-life problems. Problem-based learning and teaching can be implemented through collaboration in which students learn about a subject by working in groups.

The skills inculcated must enable students to tackle challenges during their careers. Engineers must generate well-defined solutions that can avoid loss of time or excessive spending.

Lots to learn

A practical environment would allow students to experience a sense of accomplishment and help them innovate. The best way students can learn about a topic is to experience it. An ideal teaching platform should involve different approaches and perpetuate skills through experiential learning.

Overall, a practical environment would create an exciting platform that shows continuous improvement to facilitate students to take up greater challenges and risks. Above all, it would groom engineers towards a better tomorrow.

Industry exposure would also help identify and remove internal roadblocks to enable every student to use their preferred expertise and have a degree of autonomy. Though many of the internships are unpaid, the experience they gain is incredible.

Mastering specific skills will help students distinguish themselves from their competitors. An employer would always prefer a potential candidate with a specific skill set.

Industry exposure at earlier stages of their graduation would also enable them to narrow down their focus to skills that make them job-ready.

Through industry exposure, students are also stimulated to analyse the current market trends.

Establishing good industry connections and networks during their graduation would also increase their career prospects. When students utilise internship opportunities effectively, their professional careers will go on the right track.

Hence, engineering institutions must opt for more collaborative research projects with the industry.

This would facilitate practical exposure to students. Moreover, since these companies are important stakeholders in the education journey of students, it is essential to provide seamless connectivity.

(The author is a professor of mechanical engineering)