Fueled by India's infrastructure-led growth, Engineering has seen a resurgence of interest among the budding engineers. As opportunities to contribute to nation-building through large-scale infrastructure projects continue to expand, Civil Engineering is emerging as a preferred career choice, particularly across IITs and NITs.

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has emerged as a key enabler, by creating structured pathways that connect engineering education with meaningful professional opportunities in the National Highway sector. NHAI recruits around 100 engineering professionals every year through the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) for technical positions. Graduates from IITs, NITs and other reputed institutions qualified for appointment as Deputy Manager, underscoring the increasing preference among some of India's brightest engineering graduates to pursue careers in National Highway infrastructure development.

To further strengthen industry-academia collaboration, NHAI formally launched its structured Internship Program in December 2025 with a one-month Winter Internship for Civil Engineering students, followed by the introduction of a six-month Term Internship. Offering a competitive stipend of Rs. 20,000 per month, the program has quickly emerged as one of the country's most attractive experiential learning opportunities for aspiring engineers.

Building upon its success, NHAI significantly expanded the Summer Internship Program 2026 and 423 student interns from various streams joined across 125 NHAI field offices as well as 51 functional verticals at NHAI Headquarters. The program witnessed enthusiastic participation from premier technical institutions, including 59 students from IITs and 282 from NITs, reflecting the growing confidence of young engineers in pursuing careers associated with India's National Highway development program.

Complementing these initiatives, NHAI has also undertaken reforms to strengthen the professional ecosystem for civil engineers. These include the introduction of fixed-cost Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) to ensure fair and professional compensation for engineering services, along with measures to attract outstanding engineering professionals as DPR and supervision consultants through competitive remuneration frameworks.

By fostering a robust ecosystem through structured learning and merit-based recruitment, NHAI is not only addressing country's growing demand for highly skilled engineering talent but also inspiring a new generation of civil engineers to contribute to the development of a world-class National Highway network.

***

GDH/DS

(Release ID: 2282112) Visitor Counter : 421