The rapid expansion of
engineering and technical education in post liberalisation India has
significantly transformed the structure and character of higher education. This
paper critically examines the political economy of engineering education within
the broader framework of globalisation, privatization and neo liberal reforms.
It argues that although privatization was introduced in the name of quality,
efficiency and democratization of access, it has simultaneously intensified
existing structures of caste, class, gender and regional inequalities. The
paper sociologically analyzes how professional education, particularly
engineering education, has increasingly become market driven, commercially
oriented and shaped by the logic of profit accumulation rather than social
justice and inclusive development.
Drawing upon secondary
data, government reports, policy documents and content analysis, the study
explores the institutional growth of engineering education in India and
interrogates the relationship between privatization, merit discourse and social
exclusion. The paper critically engages with theoretical perspectives on
cultural capital, meritocracy and neoliberalism to demonstrate how students
from working class, rural and historically marginalised communities continue to
face structural barriers in accessing quality technical education. The study
also examines the contradiction between quantitative expansion and qualitative
decline in engineering education. While private engineering institutions have
mushroomed across the country, many suffer from inadequate infrastructure, poor
academic standards, outdated curricula and weak industry academia linkage,
resulting in large scale unemployability among engineering graduates. The paper
argues that the discourse of “merit” within technical education often conceals
deeper inequalities embedded within the unequal distribution of economic,
social and cultural capital. The paper concludes that the neoliberal
restructuring of engineering education in India has transformed education from
a public good into a market commodity, thereby reproducing new forms of
exclusion and marginalisation. It emphasizes the need for democratization of
technical education through stronger public investment, equitable access
policies and socially inclusive educational frameworks capable of addressing
the structural inequalities embedded within the contemporary education system.
