Last year, there was a news article about a 22-year-old student in her third year of engineering, Riya Mehta, who built and launched an entire health-tech platform by herself. Today, her app serves over 10,000 users and has attracted early-stage investment interest. A decade ago, this would have been seen as a final-year project; ambitious, yes, but still academic. Now, it's a functioning business.  

If that doesn’t alert us to what's happening in engineering education, we aren’t paying attention.  

Across India and around the world, a quiet revolution is taking place in engineering classrooms. Education is no longer just preparation for job placements; it’s becoming a start-up factory. Final-year theses are giving way to market-ready MVPs. Whiteboards are not only for solving algorithms; they are also used to refine product roadmaps, customer personas, and pitch decks.  

Because the future doesn’t need more job seekers. It needs builders. It needs founders. 

Innovation is the new curriculum

The engineering curriculum of the past relied heavily on theory, rigour, and repetition. But that model is crumbling under the weight of irrelevance. We are now seeing a curriculum defined by experimentation, hands-on learning, and real-time feedback.

Courses in AI systems, cloud computing, data engineering, UX design, product management, and startup economics are now essential, not optional. What used to be reserved for postgraduate studies or industry bootcamps is now taught in second-year classrooms.

The focus has shifted from “knowing” to “building.” From following instructions to iterating toward workable solutions.

And it's not just about technology. It's about mindset. Students are encouraged to embrace uncertainty, question assumptions, and think like founders from Day Zero.  

They’re not building to pass exams. They’re building to ship actual products to the real world. 

Campuses are becoming incubators

Modern institutions are no longer just schools; they’re ecosystems. Today’s innovative campuses blur the line between academic learning and startup acceleration. Students form founding teams in their dorm rooms, pitch to real investors in auditoriums, and gather user feedback well before they finish their degrees.  

At Scaler School of Technology, for instance, student founders get access to innovation labs, regular pitch sessions with investors, and mentorship from unicorn leaders and early-stage operators.

Over the last year alone, more than 10 ventures have emerged from this environment — with several already in the market, some generating revenue. The focus is not just on grading project work but on building companies with real market potential.

One example is AetherLabs Flow, founded by student Advith Sharma. Drawing from his father's background in insurance, he created a SaaS platform designed for insurance brokers and agents - one that uses AI to automate data extraction, streamline client communication, and simplify claims processes.

What began as a passion project has now evolved into a growing business. It's proof that innovation isn't just a theory; it’s happening in practice. The product is already being used by multiple paying brokers, agents, and insurance agencies, which are early signs of strong product-market fit.

Building founders, not just coders

Being technically skilled is no longer the only standard. The modern engineering graduate should be part developer, part storyteller, and part operator. They need to know how to write clean code as well as how to assemble teams, sell a vision, and deal with failure.

That's why leading institutions now incorporate leadership, pitching, storytelling, public speaking, emotional intelligence, and even mental resilience into their academic programs. Students learn to deliver investor-level pitches, craft compelling product stories, and handle rejection as part of their daily education.

Mentorship isn't just a top-down approach. Alumni founders return not just as guests, but as mentors and angel investors. This cycle of giving back promotes a culture of building from the inside.

Industry as co-creator, not spectator

This new educational model doesn’t develop in isolation. It evolves alongside the very ecosystem students are preparing to join.  

Forward-thinking engineering institutions are designing their curricula with input from industry leaders, startup founders, and venture capitalists. This creates a more responsive, adaptable education that reflects the fast pace of modern innovation.   

This blend of academia and industry ensures that students don’t just learn about business; they actively practice it.

The future is being written in student labs

The next Flipkart, Stripe, or Zerodha is unlikely to be born in a boardroom. It’s more likely to be sketched out in a bustling campus café, tested during a hackathon, and showcased in front of peers before it even comes to the attention of a venture fund.  

The founder mindset isn’t a niche elective anymore. It’s a core skill, alongside programming, systems design, and cloud architecture.  

We are moving from a placement economy to a creation economy.  And what is the most valuable “product” being built right now?  Not just an app or a platform. It’s the founder.

(Anshuman Singh is the Co-Founder of Scaler & Scaler School of Technology. Views expressed are his own.)