India has been a name synonymous with high-tech engineering and technical education across the globe since decades. The education related to engineering and technical arenas has been developing faster than anywhere else on earth. Ever since the early eighties, the era of rapid industrialization and economic growth India was recognized as a hub of some of the most hard-working and intelligent engineers of the world.

Today, India boasts of its position as the second largest number of engineering students in the world for all of which the medium of instruction is English. In accordance to the recent survey by the United Nations, the Indian economy is one of the fastest economies holding back 6th position and expected to reach fourth position till the end of the century. With the latest advancements made in the field of scientific, industrial and technological areas, chiefly in space, nuclear and missile technology, computer engineering and information science, India is emerging as the reckoned world power.

“Engineering” is derived from Latin word “ingeniare” that stands for “to design” or “to create”. Engineering is the term that stands for application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes such as engines, machines and structures. The foundation of engineering educations was done way back in the year 1847, when Thomason College of Civil Engineering at Roorkee was established which is today renowned as Roorkee University (1949). It was India’s first engineering university and yes, the foundation of strong and steady journey of technical education in India.

Furthermore, the establishment of the All-India Council of Technical Education in 1945 and the report of the scientific manpower committee (1947) had an in-depth confluence in the overall development. The development of engineering allied educational facilities has been unparalleled during the last decade.

There are institutes offering varied three year diploma courses in diverse branches of engineering and technology offered by different polytechnics. The eligibility criteria for selection in these diploma courses, is to pass in class 10 examinations clearly. There are many polytechnics that offer post 10+2 diplomas and post-grad diplomas as well. Similarly the eligibility for admission in B.E (B.Tech) and B.Arch course is passing in 10+2 examination in the science stream with mathematics.

Coming to the apex portion of engineering education, the post-graduate programmes led to a degree in M.E/M.Tech and M.Arch degree that comprises of duration of 18 months i.e three semesters. Candidates are required to pursue specialization in one of the subject of their study at the first degree level. 

The number of engineering graduates has accelerated to 60,000 in the year 1996. Similarly the number of polytechnic diploma holders increased to 96,000 (approx.). This accelerating increase in the field of engineering forced AICTE to ascertain the quality of education they are providing to the future of not only India but the world. A National Board of Accreditation (NBA) has been set-up to introduce a system of accreditation of each and every program offered by the recognized institutions.