FUTURE PERSPECTIVES OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

There is a famous quote by Winston Churchill that says “We shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us”. Referring to this, Civil Engineering is one of the most practiced and the oldest branch among all the disciplines of Engineering. Looking into the present scenario of developing world, it has become one of the most important and relevant disciplines to address the need of the hour. 

But when we talk about the future perspectives of Civil Engineering nowadays, there are lots of doubts that comes to the mind of students while choosing Civil Engineering for their undergraduate studies and building their career in Civil Engineering. Regarding to this rising concern, a discussion session about the future perspectives of Civil Engineering was conducted at KIET Group of Institutions by Mr. Vinay Ahlawat in which Prof. Dr. Shailendra Kumar Tiwary, Head of Department of Civil Engineering answered the various questions that come to the mind of students while opting Civil Engineering.

To begin with the scope of Civil Engineering, Dr. Tiwary stated that a Civil Engineering graduate has job opportunities in planning, designing, constructing, maintaining and supervising infrastructures, which include facilities essential to modern life like residential & commercial buildings, highways, railways, ports & waterways, bridges & tunnels, schools, hospitals, other buildings, sewage systems and water treatment facilities etc. Also referring to the impact of recession on Civil Engineering Branch Dr. Tiwary said that there is no actual recession in the construction industry, In fact it is a very short temporary phase where things are appearing not so bright for a Civil Engineer and owing to the tremendous growth potential in the infrastructure sector in India and abroad, the demand of Civil Engineers has been on the rise.

He further added that the Union Budget 2020, unveiled that Rs.100 lakh crore shall be invested only in infrastructure over the next 5 years and on the separate allocation to the transportation sector, Road Transport and Highways Minister has said that it has given a massive boost to investment in infrastructure including Highway, Railways, Airports, Ports and Waterways, which in turn would help revive industrial production and generate employment opportunities, creating more than 2 crore jobs.

In addition to the discussion, when Dr. Tiwary was asked that Most of the people believe that they opt for Civil Engineering because they won’t have any option, he answered that every branch of engineering is unique in its domain with unique job prospects and career opportunities. He added further that in the present scenario, there are large number of career options which are open for all branches of engineering.

He also said that Engineering graduates from core branches are pursuing very successful career in IT Sector companies & In fact, the core branch engineering graduates have advantage of having knowledge of two domains i.e. one of their core branch and other related to IT domain. Furthermore, he added that since majority of clientele of IT Sector companies are from core engineering areas, so these IT Sector companies are recruiting graduates of core branches too in a large number.

Also while addressing the report titled "Real Estate and Construction Professionals in India by 2020" by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Dr. Tiwari shared that there is a demand-supply gap ranging between 82% and 86% of skilled Civil Engineers, architects and others. This means our country needs 4 million skilled Civil Engineers until next two to three years.

In conclusion to the discussion, Dr. Tiwari said that in his opinion, Civil Engineering should be the first choice for the students who have made up their mind to choose engineering as stream of their higher education as we all know that the construction industry is a major contributor towards India’s GDP, both directly and indirectly which employs 33 million people, and any improvements in the construction sector affect several associated industries such as cement, steel, technology, skill-enhancement, services industry etc.