Chief Economic Advisor V. Anantha Nageswaran has done a great service articulating something many parents, students and policymakers do not want to hear: that the old premium attached to software degrees and MBAs is vanishing. The globalisation-era formula was simple. Get an engineering degree, learn coding, do an MBA if possible, and enter a white-collar growth track.

That formula is no longer reliable. AI is changing the economics of routine cognitive work. One experienced employee, assisted by AI tools, can now do what earlier required dozens of freshers. The first impact may not be mass layoffs. It may be the silent closing of entry gates. Witness the recent drop in hiring by IT companies.

But his warning should not be read as an obituary for engineering or management education. India does not need fewer engineers. It needs different engineers. Civil engineering, for instance, will remain central to India’s future. A country that is still building roads, bridges, ports, railways, water systems, housing, logistics parks and climate-resilient cities cannot say that engineering is finished. If anything, demand for good engineers will rise.

The real question is: what kind of engineering? A civil engineer of tomorrow cannot merely learn old formulae for concrete and surveying. She must understand climate risk, water stress, urban flooding, green materials, GIS mapping, project finance, procurement and lifecycle maintenance. Mechanical and electrical engineers must understand robotics, precision manufacturing, storage, grids and renewable integration. Computer engineers must move beyond routine coding to systems thinking, data architecture, cybersecurity and AI applications in real sectors.

The same applies to MBAs. India does not need fewer people with analytical and managerial skills. It needs many more, but in places........

© National Herald