Over the past three decades, India has experienced one of the world’s largest expansions of higher and technical education, substantially increasing institutional capacity and access to engineering education. While this massification has broadened educational opportunities and supported socio-economic development, improvements in educational quality have not always kept pace with quantitative growth. This review examines the implications of massification for educational quality, faculty development, research ecosystems, laboratory infrastructure, graduate employability, and academia–industry alignment. It argues that rapid institutional expansion, particularly during the period of intensive private-sector growth, often outpaced the development of the academic ecosystems required to sustain high-quality technical education. The review also examines how Artificial Intelligence is reshaping engineering curricula, pedagogical practices, and future graduate competencies. Drawing upon national policy documents, international literature, and recent developments in engineering education, the paper argues that the next phase of reform should emphasize institutional differentiation, continuous faculty development, curriculum modernization, stronger academia–industry collaboration, sustainable funding mechanisms, and outcome-based quality assurance. Having successfully expanded access to technical education, India must now consolidate these gains by strengthening educational quality, innovation capacity, graduate employability, and workforce relevance.

Technical ducation; Massification; Engineering education; Academia–industry alignment; Artificial Intelligence.