Demand for civil engineers has been going up
In the last three to four years, the demand for civil engineers has been going up, C.S.Viswanatha, Chief Executive, Torsteel Research Foundation in India, Bangalore, said here.Speaking at the inaugural of the national conference on `Frontline Areas of Civil Engineering' at the VLB Janakiammal College of Engineering and Technology," he said that the developments taking place in the field of civil engineering were rapid and needed more number of younger people, especially in the research and development area.Construction activities, equipment and technology had gone high-tech and there was a dearth of trained engineers in the country, he observed.In cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai, new recruits were even paid salaries close to that of Information Technology professionals.The incentives were good and opportunities were plenty in a fast growing country like India, Mr. Viswanatha said. "The industry has a bright future. We have enough funds flowing in for infrastructure and the major cities are abuzz with construction activity. Along with Information Technology and Biotechnology, Construction Technology is the next big thing in the country."However, the advanced techniques used extensively in construction in other parts of the world took a long time in trickling down to India. "Now there is an urgent need to compete with an international fraternity especially in terms of materials," he said. The research and development efforts in India were still not up to international standards.
Another challenge the industry faced was the employability of fresh engineering graduates. A new recruit had to be given six months to one year's training before he or she could be taken into the job.Engineering colleges should make students work with construction firms or material producing centres at least for one semester. Only then will they be ready to be absorbed by the industry.Two to three weeks of training, as was done by many colleges, would not suffice, he said. Also, they should bring in people from the industry to interact with the students. That would help keep students aware of the latest trends in the industry. "It is the responsibility of engineering institutions to train students to be fit for competition in the global arena."Classical civil engineering subjects were sometimes relegated to the background with engineering colleges focussing all their attention on IT oriented newer subjects, Mr.Viswanatha remarked.The sufferers in this were those who were interested in classical civil engineering subjects, he added.
