If you were born in India , someone around you must have patted your back, saying ‘Doctor/Engineering is the best branch, go for it!’ Indians are always lured towards Engineering as it is a promising career option, with many branches to choose from. Although the growth trajectory in today’s scenario in India is limited, these options are surging abroad, with Engineering being one of the most popular courses. PPRO EED gives you a look into the major specialisations with the best universities that offer courses in them.
Electrical engineering: one of the most sought after branches, it deals with study and applicability of electricity, electromagnetism and electronics. With the advent of technology that is electricity dependent, this field saw an upsurge of takers and now forms a core branch in Engineering. Electrical engineering has now subdivided into a wide range of subfields including electronics, digital computers, power engineering, telecommunications, control systems, radio-frequency engineering, signal processing, instrumentation, and microelectronics.

Automobile/ Automotive Engineering: Automotive engineering is a branch of Mechanical Engineering which incorporates elements of mechanical, electrical, software and safety engineering as applied to the design, manufacture and operation of automobiles. Automobile engineers design, test, develop and manufacture automotive products such as heavy and light vehicles. Lawrence Technological University, Birmingham City University, technical university of Munich, Kingston University, University of Warwick are some colleges that offer this course.

Environmental engineering: this field aspires to use natural resources like land water air for sustainable development and societal betterment. Students study how to use resources in an optimum way so as to reduce pollution and minimize degradation. A field of Civil engineering, environmental engineers work on developing solutions to attenuate or control problems in the environmental sphere in line with the economic legislative and political ideology. They also include construction and running of waste and water treatment plants, analysis of water, air quality and drafting plans for action. Universities like McGill, University of Nottingham, Newcastle University, Virginia tech, University of Michigan have degree courses in this field.

Aerospace Engineering: divided into subfields of Aeronautical engineering and Astronautical engineering, this specialisation deals with development of aircrafts and spacecrafts. Flight vehicles are subjected to demanding conditions such as those produced by changes in atmospheric pressure and temperature, with structural loads applied upon vehicle components. Consequently, they are usually the products of various technological and engineering disciplines including aerodynamics, propulsion, avionics, materials science, structural analysis and manufacturing. The interaction between these technologies is known as aerospace engineering. California institute of technology, university of Michigan, Cambridge , Stanford, Purdue University and Imperial college London offer courses in the same.

Geotechnical Engineering: applied while designing dams, foundations, and wall as well as deciding routes for railway and bridge constructions, Geotechnical Engineering focuses on study of soil under different forces like soil-water interactions, pressures and so on. It includes field work as well as intensive lab researches to determine the condition of resources and to deem them fit for different purposes like waste disposal areas. University of California Berkeley (UCB), Stanford and MIT are the best colleges for this course.

Biomedical engineering: is the application of concepts of engineering to the medical field. Image processing, biometrics, biomechanical, bioengineering and 3-D modeling are some of the verticals of this field. Some colleges to see are University of Washington, UC Berkeley, University of Glasgow,University of Southampton, University of Bedfordshire and University of Texas.

Mallika Bhagat