Shiksha, a part of Noida headquartered Info Edge Limited and one of India’s leading career and college selection websites for students, recently released a survey report titled Engineering Outlook 2019 that touches various aspects of life for engineering aspirants. The study conducted by Shiksha.com rightly identifies the changing trends, factors and mind-set of engineering aspirants and the parameters that play a crucial role in college selection process.

Engineering Outlook 2019, a study on and for engineering students conducted by Shiksha.com presents nine key findings:

1. According to Shiksha’s report, 83 percent of students in the west and 80 percent in central India enrol for an average of three or less engineering entrance exams whereas 33 percent of students in the north and 29 percent in the east enrol for four or more entrance exams while 21 percent of students in south enroll for five or more engineering entrance exams.

2. JEE Main and state engineering exams are the most popular engineering entrance exams across India. There are other private entrance exams that are quite popular in different regions and are among the top choices. In north and central India, VITEEE and BITSAT are as popular as state engineering entrance exams.

3. Shiksha’s report shows mixed response in terms of preference of college location. According to the study, 90 percent of the students from south and west want to study in their own regions. However, only 70 percent of the students from central and east India want to study in their respective regions. Students from all across India, especially western India are least interested in studying engineering in central India.

4. The report shows only 30 percent students based in eastern India want to study in their own region. Majority of the students are interested in studying in metro cities such as Delhi and Bangalore. Students in central India on the other hand prefer Indore over other large metro cities for studying engineering.

5. Accord to the findings of Shiksha 2019 survey, the preferences of students have deeply changed over the last two years. College reviews and college rankings are the only categories of information that have grown in degree of importance over popular categories of 2016 such as college photos and videos, campus life and admission. In 2016, approximately 60 percent of the students aspired for college rankings and 64 percent for college student reviews whereas the number changed to 78 percent and 73 percent respectively in the year 2019.

According to the study, authentic or verified College reviews provided by students and college rankings published by credible sources are considered necessary information by students while researching.

6. Changing trends of the influencer platforms (other than Google) for students taking college admission decisions. From the data of Shiksha survey 2019, there is a decline in the growth of traditional platforms compared to the online platforms over the last two years. Consumer behaviour is changing and students are now moving towards online platforms for credible information.

College listing and ranking sites (such as Shiksha) and official website of the colleges are the top preferences of students pan India for sourcing authentic information such as college reviews, fees and scholarships, admission details, college photos, college related Q&A. However in southern India, family/friends (word-of-mouth) are as popular as the college listing sites and official website.

Comments Vivek Jain, chief business officer, Shiksha.com, “It’s clearly visible that requirement for direct and authentic information from credible sources has increased over the years. Students prefer authentic or verified college reviews and listings, direct interaction with current students over traditional sources of information such as student fairs, family/friends and print advertisements which are losing their sheen as compared to the more popular online options. Foreseeing the growing need years ago, we, at Shiksha started working for today’s requirement and now Shiksha.com has more than 1.3 lakh authentic college reviews on its platform and has recently introduced a new integrated ranking mechanism to show the college rankings released by renowned publishers without any bias.”

7. The report says 77 percent of the aspirants prefer to interact with current students of colleges to get more information and resolve their doubts and confusions. Colleges should focus on interaction of their current students with prospective students for better engagement and higher conversions

Shiksha has more than 1500 campus ambassadors across 800 top universities and colleges in India, who address student doubts and queries related to admission in their respective colleges and courses.

8. The Shiksha survey 2019 shows financial concerns are by far the most important concern of the students across India except north and west where quality of the teaching faculty becomes a broader concern. Most of these concerns are evenly spread across regions.

9. As per Shiksha’s Engineering Outlook 2019, skill learning and improved placement, internship opportunities are by far the most important requirements of engineering aspirants while shortlisting their undergraduate college. Colleges can improve these parameters and can further use them as marketing propositions to influence student decisions.

The report also shows that requirements such as work experience while studying, scholarship programmes, online/visual classes and certification programmes can also be an effective showcase for colleges to attract prospective students.

“As per the survey report, we can strongly state that the preferences of students show a marked change over the last two years. Students are now clear with their approaches and preferences and are in the state of making smart decisions for themselves. We believe the survey done by Shiksha will help engineering colleges across India to take necessary steps to stay abreast with the changing requirement of the engineering aspirants,” added Jain.

Download full report at https://www.shiksha.com/public/engineering-outlook-survey-2019.pdf.

Check the below link for engineering college reviews and engineering college rankings.

https://www.shiksha.com/btech/resources/college-reviews/1

https://www.shiksha.com/b-tech/ranking/top-engineering-colleges-in-india/44-2-0-0-0

Shiksha is one of India’s leading career and college selection websites for students aspiring to pursue higher education in India or abroad.