Engineers’ Day 2026: Experts Call for Shift From Theory to Real-World Engineering Skills

India’s engineering education needs to move beyond theory-heavy classrooms and give students much more exposure to real hardware, practical problem solving, interdisciplinary projects and industry challenges, experts have warned around Engineers’ Day 2026. Industry leaders and academics speaking at an IIT Delhi innovation summit said the core problem is not that Indian engineering graduates lack intelligence, but that too many complete their degrees without enough experience applying knowledge to real systems.

The concern emerged prominently during a two-day innovation summit organised by IIT Delhi’s Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer, or FITT, on September 11 and 12.

Discussions involving manufacturing, semiconductors, agriculture and advanced technology repeatedly returned to the same theme: students need fewer perfectly framed textbook problems and more experience dealing with uncertain real-world conditions.

Engineering Education Skills Gap: What Experts Said

Concern	Suggested Direction
Too much theory	More hands-on projects
Limited hardware exposure	Real systems and laboratories
Department silos	Interdisciplinary learning
Research focused only on papers	Translational and product-focused research
Industry-readiness gap	Industry-university collaboration
AI disruption	AI literacy plus engineering judgement

IIT Delhi Summit Highlights Classroom-Industry Gap

Industrialists, entrepreneurs and academics at the FITT summit argued that engineering education often remains disconnected from the way engineering is actually practised.

In university examinations, students are normally given:

• A defined problem
• All required information
• A known answer

Industry rarely works that way.

Real Engineering Starts by Defining the Problem

An engineer at work may first need to determine:

• What is actually failing?
• What data are missing?
• What constraints matter?
• What solution is affordable?
• What safety standard applies?

This problem-framing ability cannot be learned through memorization alone.

Cadence Executive Flags Lack of Hardware Exposure

Taranjit Kohli of Cadence Design Systems said Indian engineering education does not give students enough exposure to real-world hardware.

This is particularly important as India expands its ambitions in:

• Semiconductors
• Electronics
• Embedded systems
• Advanced manufacturing

Semiconductor Skills Cannot Be Built Only Through Slides

A student can learn semiconductor theory from a textbook.

Industry readiness can additionally require familiarity with:

• Design tools
• Testing
• Fabrication concepts
• Verification
• Hardware-software interaction

Research Should Solve Real Problems Too

Kohli also argued that postgraduate research can become overly focused on academic papers rather than problems important to companies and the country.

Publications remain essential to research.

The concern is whether universities provide a second pathway for research that emphasizes:

• Prototype development
• Industrial validation
• Technology transfer
• Productisation

IIT Delhi Professor Proposes Translational PhD Track

IIT Delhi Professor Sunil Jha proposed creating a parallel translational research track for doctoral students.

Under such a model, some researchers could spend four to five years solving and productising existing real-world problems while other scholars continue fundamental research.

Fundamental and Applied Research Are Both Important

This should not be framed as “papers versus products.”

Fundamental science can produce discoveries whose practical value becomes clear only years later.

Strong research universities need:

• Basic research
• Applied research
• Technology translation

Maruti Suzuki Says Graduates Need More Practical Experience

Maruti Suzuki’s Dr Shailendra Singh said the issue is not necessarily the quality of Indian engineering graduates.

The problem is that many arrive without sufficient hands-on experience.

He pointed to the company’s own training efforts to build job-ready practical capability.

Why Companies Build Training Centres

If new graduates require months of additional training before working independently, companies may create internal systems covering:

• Manufacturing processes
• Equipment
• Quality systems
• Safety
• Industrial problem solving

This indicates a mismatch between university learning and workplace requirements.

Students Need to Build, Break and Redesign

VIT Bhopal Vice-Chancellor Satish Kumar Modh has similarly argued that modern engineering students need situations where they:

• Build
• Test
• Fail
• Redesign

This is closer to real engineering than solving only predetermined examination questions.

Failure Is Part of Engineering Education

Students are often trained to avoid mistakes because grades punish incorrect answers.

Engineering design works differently.

An unsuccessful prototype can reveal:

• A wrong assumption
• A weak component
• A design limitation
• An unexpected user behaviour

Engineering Colleges Need Better Laboratories

A practical curriculum requires infrastructure.

Institutions need access to:

• Electronics labs
• Manufacturing equipment
• Testing tools
• Computing infrastructure
• Project spaces

But Expensive Labs Alone Do Not Solve the Problem

A laboratory used only for scripted practicals can still produce weak practical learning.

Students should have opportunities to design their own experiments and projects.

Move From “Follow These Steps” to “Solve This Problem”

Traditional laboratory work often says:

Connect component A to B, record reading C, calculate D.

A stronger project might ask:

Design a low-cost system that reduces energy consumption in this building.

The second problem requires much more engineering judgement.

Industry 4.0 Is Changing Skill Requirements

Factories increasingly combine:

• Automation
• Robotics
• Sensors
• AI
• Data systems
• Advanced manufacturing

Mechanical engineers can no longer assume they will work only with mechanical systems.

Interdisciplinary Learning Is Essential

An electric vehicle combines:

• Mechanical engineering
• Electrical engineering
• Battery chemistry
• Embedded software
• Data

Similarly, a semiconductor factory requires:

• Electronics
• Materials science
• Process engineering
• Automation
• Precision manufacturing

Engineering Departments Need More Interaction

Students should have opportunities to work on teams containing people from different branches.

This mirrors real workplaces.

AI Changes What an Engineer Needs to Know

AI can increasingly perform tasks such as:

• Generating code
• Running simulations
• Analysing data
• Assisting design

This does not reduce the value of engineers.

It changes where their value sits.

Human Judgement Becomes More Important

An engineer needs to decide:

• Is the model trustworthy?
• Is the training data appropriate?
• Are the assumptions correct?
• Can this system fail safely?

AI Literacy Should Become a General Engineering Skill

Students in:

• Civil Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Electrical Engineering
• Biotechnology

may all encounter AI-enabled tools.

AI should therefore not be treated only as a Computer Science subject.

IndiaAI Infrastructure Is Expanding

India’s investment in shared AI computing capacity is increasing opportunities for:

• Researchers
• Startups
• Universities

Students need the skills to use such infrastructure intelligently.

Quantum and Cyber-Physical Systems Need New-Age Engineers

India is also investing in:

• Quantum technologies
• Robotics
• Cyber-physical systems
• Space
• Biotechnology
• Advanced manufacturing

These areas rarely fit neatly into one old-style engineering branch.

Communication Skills Matter More Than Students Think

A technically correct design can fail if the engineer cannot explain it to:

• Management
• Customers
• Regulators
• Other teams

Every Engineer Should Be Able to Explain a Project Simply

Students should practise describing:

• The problem
• The solution
• The trade-offs
• The result

without relying entirely on jargon.

Internships Need Real Work

An internship certificate alone has limited value.

Students should seek experiences where they can:

• Build something
• Analyse data
• Test a system
• Observe manufacturing
• Solve a defined problem

Remote Certificate Internships Are Not Always Equivalent

Online learning can be useful, but students should not mistake watching recorded videos for practical industrial exposure.

What Can Students Do if Their College Has Weak Labs?

Students can still create practical exposure through:

• Open-source projects
• Robotics clubs
• Hackathons
• Competitions
• Internships
• Research with faculty

Build a Portfolio, Not Just a Resume

A project portfolio can show:

• What you built
• What failed
• How you fixed it
• What tools you used
• What you learned

Employers Can Evaluate Evidence More Easily Than Claims

“Good at Python” is a claim.

A working Python project with documented code is evidence.

Faculty Need Upskilling Too

Engineering curricula cannot modernize if instructors do not have access to current technologies and industrial practices.

Faculty development can include:

• Industry sabbaticals
• Training
• Joint projects
• Modern software tools

Industry-Academia Collaboration Must Be Continuous

An annual guest lecture does not constitute deep collaboration.

Stronger models include:

• Joint laboratories
• Sponsored projects
• Industry-designed problems
• Co-op programmes
• Faculty-industry research

Agricultural Researchers Also Called for Real-World Problem Framing

At the IIT Delhi summit, Prof. B.R. Kamboj proposed moving from a traditional “lab to land” model toward “land to lab.”

The idea is to involve farmers in identifying problems before researchers design solutions.

The Same Principle Applies to Engineering

Start with the user’s problem rather than inventing a technology and then searching for someone who needs it.

Industry 5.0 Adds Human Judgement Back Into the Equation

The emerging Industry 5.0 idea emphasizes not only automation but also:

• Human judgement
• Creativity
• Resilience
• Sustainability

What Should a BTech Student Learn Beyond the Syllabus?

Skill	Why It Matters
Programming	Automation and data
AI Literacy	Modern engineering tools
CAD/Simulation	Design and testing
Data Analysis	Evidence-based decisions
Communication	Teams and clients
Project Management	Delivering real work

Final Takeaway

Experts around Engineers’ Day 2026 are calling for a major shift in Indian engineering education: fewer theory-only exercises and much more exposure to practical systems, interdisciplinary work, hardware, industry problems and translational research.

At IIT Delhi’s FITT innovation summit, industry representatives said graduates often lack the hands-on experience required in areas such as manufacturing and semiconductors, while academics proposed stronger pathways for converting research into products.

The message for students is equally important. Engineering success will increasingly depend on more than marks or one programming language.

Students need to build, test, fail, analyse and redesign. They need to understand AI without blindly trusting it, communicate across disciplines and learn how real engineering decisions are made under cost, safety and time constraints.

In other words, the engineering classroom needs to move closer to engineering itself.