Leading Engineering Disciplines for 2024

Ankeet Bhattachan

October 23, 2024
Leading Engineering Disciplines for 2024

Engineering is one of the most popular courses among students pursuing higher education in science. A bachelor's degree in engineering can lead to various job opportunities. Students can pick from various engineering fields to see which ones interest them.

Since Nepal is in the age of infrastructure and technology development, the need for engineering has been very relevant. The need for engineers is ever-on the rise and will still be as most of the engineering branches are being incorporated into the country's growth, opening up doors for many future engineers.

Engineering can be applied to many fields, and it is advisable to familiarise yourself with these fields prior to application. In addition, as it has been equally stated for each engineering discipline, aspirants must give a serious thought to personal motivation, current requirements of the market, and possibilities for a long-term professional growth before making a choice. Some of these course details have to be analyzed in making this decision. This is because there is a need to check the pros and cons of the course, the career expectations and the course itself before settling on the engineering discipline.

Here are the top engineering disciplines that are attracting attention as of 2024:

Civil Engineering

Civil engineering is the most popular and oldest discipline of engineering in Nepal and the world. Civil engineers deal with various tasks, ranging from building the most common infrastructures like homes and bridges to designing roads and railways.

Civil engineering is an exciting and rewarding profession in Nepal as it is in the rest of the world. Its career prospects are unlimited. Civil engineering takes place in the public sector, from municipal to national governments, and in the private sector, from individual homeowners to international companies.

Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical engineering, the broadest of Engineering disciplines, deals with the design and production of tools, machines, and all other mechanical equipment used in industries. The industry offers many options extending across many interdisciplinary, interdependent specialties.

Mechanical engineering is concerned with all types of machinery in industries and all aspects of their mechanism and functioning: the design, development, construction, production, installation, operation, and maintenance, such as considerable steam and gas turbines, components of thermal power stations, internal combustion engines, jet engines, machine tools, air conditioning and heating machines, refrigerators, etc. to name a few. They design and create new products and develop materials for them and ways of making them.

This field offers an array of interdisciplinary specialties, including robotics, thermal power systems, and automotive design. As Nepal’s manufacturing and industrial sectors grow, mechanical engineers are in high demand, particularly in the energy and manufacturing industries.

Architecture

Architecture engineering primarily deals with building. It involves creating maps or structural diagrams of buildings and artificial physical structures and integrating the various techniques and systems available in today’s advanced technology.

An architect considers the safety, economic viability, environmental, and future aspects of any building project and makes it sustainable and efficient.

As Architecture engineering is a subdiscipline of engineering, candidates must be sound in mathematics, physics, and computers. They must also possess a talent for creative design and the arts, as architecture is a blend of engineering and the arts.

In Nepal, the scope of architecture engineering has been rising in recent years. In Nepal, architects have the authority to certify the design of buildings and other structures.

Computer Engineering

Computer engineering is a discipline that combines various aspects of electrical engineering and computer science to create computer hardware and software. Rather than just software engineering or electronic engineering, computer engineers receive training in electronic engineering, software design, and hardware-software integration. 

Computer engineers are involved in many hardware and software aspects of computing, from the design of individual microcontrollers, microprocessors, personal computers, and supercomputers to circuit design. This field of engineering focuses on how computer systems work and how they integrate into the larger picture.

Electrical Engineering

Electrical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with electricity technology. Electrical engineers work on various components, devices, and systems, from tiny microchips to massive power station generators. The advent of the modern age is marked by the introduction of electricity to homes, businesses, and industry, all made possible by electrical engineers.

Electrical engineers build, test, install, and maintain electrical equipment and systems. The tasks for electrical engineers range from small-scale projects liike pocket device development to massive projects like satellite and robotics.

Biomedical Engineering

Biomedical engineering (BME) is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes (e.g. diagnostic or therapeutic). This field seeks to close the gap between engineering and medicine: It combines the design and problem solving skills of engineering with medical and biological sciences to advance health care treatment, including diagnosis, monitoring, and therapy.

Electronics Engineering

Electronics engineering is the branch of electrical engineering that deals with the uses of the electromagnetic spectrum and the application of such electronic devices as integrated circuits and transistors. The discipline typically also designs passive electrical components, usually based on printed circuit boards.

The term "electronic engineering" denotes a broad engineering field covering subfields such as analog, digital, consumer, embedded systems, and power electronics. Electronics engineering involves implementing applications, principles, and algorithms developed within many related fields, such as solid-state physics, radio engineering, telecommunications, control systems, signal processing, systems engineering, computer engineering, instrumentation engineering, electric power control, and robotics.

Chemical Engineering

Chemical engineering is concerned with converting raw resources into valuable products through chemical processes. Chemical engineers play an important role in creating efficient mass-production systems in industries such as pharmaceuticals, food, and energy.

Chemical engineering is becoming increasingly popular in Nepal, particularly in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and manufacturing. Chemical engineers will play an important role in inventing and scaling production as the country tries to improve industrial output and develop local manufacturing.