I don’t remember the exact day. Maybe I do. I think it was March of 2016. A prominent deep-pocket expatriate Keralite businessman in UAE chatted about my engineering education. To my astonishment, he got emotional and abusive when it reached my engineering stream, Mechanical Engineering.
“Mechanical engineering is outdated! Who will study this engineering stream now?”
Very uncomfortable, yet he continued, “Latest world advancement is based on computer technology and related engineering.”
“What your Mechanic Engineering can do to uplift technology affairs,” he challenged my intellect and engineering integrity (as I used to be a lecturer in mechanical engineering those days)
I sat there wondering why this guy was that bothered and touched by mechanical engineering so much! Yet, I remained silent, nodding my head in agreement to all the b*ll sh*t he continued. I sat tight to my composure because the person who arranged my meeting with this rich guy was with one demand alone, “Whatever he says, agree with him. Never confront him or argue with him.”
It was 2016. Most colleges in south India had 3 batches of 60 students each for mechanical engineering. Even with 180 students per year, many parents failed to lock one seat for their beloved kids. For those parents, it was like, one seat to a well-settled life ahead. For engineering colleges, mechanical engineering was “Evergreen Engineering,” as they used to market fondly and proudly in education fairs in front of many students and their parents. Students (99.99% boys. Girls are not admitted to this engineering discipline for mystical reasons I still could not understand) flocked innocently to these colleges. Private engineering college managements milked the deep pockets of their parent’s ‘evergreen aspirations.’
It was those days when mechanical engineering was worshipped.
Days and years passed by. 2016 left us. 2017, 2018, and 2019 were also gone. 3 batches of mechanical engineering shrank to 1 pack. The number of students reduced from 180 to 6 or 9. ‘The evergreen’ branch of engineering became a ‘never-green’ branch. College professors became jobless, and management closed the engineering branch itself in most colleges. Because of one simple straight reason – no students!
Mechanical engineering education in India died a premature and undeserved death.
Why do mechanical engineering education die, and mechanical engineering students go extinct?
Different reasons, just as we struggle to explain why dinosaurs got extinct.
No campus placements in mechanical engineering jobs in core mechanical engineering-related companies.
No skill enhancement training for mechanical engineering graduate students from colleges.
No job orientation awareness for mechanical engineering students while they are doing their graduation.
Because mechanical engineering is such a vast engineering discipline; students, parents, innocent and ignorant guys like the deep-pocketed expatriate businessman we met at the beginning of this article, or even the professors teaching mechanical engineering, no one understood or realized the true potential of this classic stream of engineering.
Because no one understood, no one could reap the benefit after studying this engineering. A mechanical engineering graduate happily settled for an AED 2500 job (yet they find muse after putting a conversion rate of 21.6 multiplication to INR for their home country salary) in some scorching sun desert, proving loyalty to their deaf and blind (pretending) masters.
Is Mechanical engineering dead?
Or our acceptance and understanding of mechanical engineering are dead?
Mujeeb Patla 
Mechanical engineering will never die if it happens how can humans survive.?. Everyone in the world directly or indirectly depending on the machines from their beginning of the day.Even if software engineering is in favour in industry ,the main source of software computer is a machine and if we want apply a developed program we have to use machines.So, in my opinion i don’t think Mechanical engineering is dead as women also showing their interest in different fields where mechanical engineering also involved.But as people wants to live a comfortable ,easy earned and luxury life where there is no physical work involved mechanical engineering becomes outdated.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Machines are used for many things but new machines and Mechanisms are rare.Every machine being used in indistry just need to be maintained properly just by following stipulated SOPs, which is not an intellectual job(These are all done by Diploma guys).Mechanical inventions doesn’t result in easy update of machines as its not a piece of software as in OTA.So I think developments of Mechanical area is nearly saturated.What can’t be denied is there is always room for improvement (of Machines, Mechanisms but not easy to replace).
LikeLiked by 1 person
I never think that mechanical engineering is dead.I am director at Deogiri Institute of Engineering and Management studies aurangabad. We have intake of 120 students and we are regularly up skilling the students .PBL Hand on training on cad software etc are the regular practices.
One thing is very sure if we prepare the students for exam then it will dead if we change the approach it will be in demand
Dr Ulhas Shiurkar
LikeLiked by 1 person
I feel the general mindset of the parents in India needs to be changed. Although Universities have revamped the syllabus of mechanical engineering too and have introduced Soft Computing Techniques so that the student can learn both the core engineering and use Soft Computing Techniques as tools.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Manufacturing aspects of any product, used by human beings, are involving mechanical engineering. I remember very well that one of my old student told me that he is working as a design engineer in a microprocessor manufacturing company. I asked him, how a mechanical engineer is suitable in a microprocessor organization. He told that the circuits have to be properly designed with proper HEAT TRANSFER which is the domain of mechanical engineers. In my opinion mechanical engineering will never die.
LikeLiked by 1 person
There are three fundamental base engineering programmes namely civil, mechanical and electrical engineering. Without the aid of the above three engineering applications, a human being can not live his or her life. The other engineering programmes are merely sub domains of it. Probably, in future, an engineer must have knowledge in base programme and allied engineering domain too. This is what engineering companies need. Hence there is no point in saying the base engineering is not required at all…!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nailed it ❤️
LikeLiked by 1 person