Bangalore: As India strives to emerge as a major global economy, significant investments are mandated in a number of core sector domains to facilitate this transition. There are a number of factors at play here. Firstly, the government realizes that infrastructure is a major bottleneck to rapid economic growth. This needs to be addressed if larger swathes of the population have to participate in the economic progress of the country. Towards this, not only has the government fast tracked developmental projects under its watch, it has put in place a number of policy initiatives to encourage participation in this development by Indian and foreign corporates. What is equally important is that the general population has become highly aware of difference that good infrastructure would make to the quality of their life. It has thus begun to demand better infrastructure. The investment potential in some of the core sectors as detailed below, presents a very encouraging scenario: 1. Oil & Gas - $35 billion opportunity by 2012 2. Power - $500 billion 3. Infrastructure ( Ports, Highways, Airports) - In excess of US $ 500 billion 4. Logistics - Market size of over $125 billion 5. IT & Electronics - $50 billion 6. Airport Infrastructure - $9 billion 7. Automotive Design - $1 billion All put together, the core sector in India presents exciting career opportunities for professionals with the right qualifications. However, it is equally pertinent that engineering education in India is becoming disconnected with the requirements of the industry. On the one hand there is an oversupply of engineers. On the other hand industry complains that graduate engineers do not have the skills required by it. According to a survey by McKinsey only 25 percent of the Indian engineering graduates are suitable for employment with multinational corporations. This is why it is important that students choose the right engineering degree program. This is where University of Petroleum & Energy Studies (UPES) has made significant contributions with the innovative engineering degree programs that it has developed. Established at Dehradun through an act by the State Legislature of Uttarakhand in the year 2003, University of Petroleum & Energy Studies (UPES) is India's First Energy University and Asia's first and only Energy & Core Sector University. UPES undergraduate and postgraduate programs are focused on some fast emerging infrastructure domains, thus offering career opportunities to youngsters keen on participating in the India growth story for the next 20 to 30 years. Academic courses at UPES have been developed with practical inputs from senior industry professionals in the various core sector domains and leading academicians with a proven track record. A key consideration at UPES is to create effective professionals for the high growth core sectors, ready to take up executive responsibilities from day one. This consideration also prevails on the design of innovative degree programs that are in sync with the emerging requirements of various core sector domains. Given below is a brief description of some UPES engineering degree programs http://www.upes.ac.in/programsoffered.asp" to illustrate this point. 1. B.Tech. Mechatronics Engineering - A program designed in response to the industry demand for engineers with multi-disciplinary skills covering mechanical, electronics, computer and systems design engineering. (http://www.upes.ac.in/btech_mechatronics.asp) 2. B.Tech. Power System Engineering - This program is at the intersection of electric power, economics, and management. It prepares professionals in power generation, transmission and distribution and power equipment. The future is promising as students can also switch over to other specializations like energy conservation, renewable energy engineering and sustainable development. 3. B.Tech. Infrastructure Engineering - This program is designed to create new age construction and project management professionals who understand the functions of planning, designing, estimating, execution and maintenance of all kinds of structures such as Buildings (Residential, Commercial, Industrial), Transportation Infrastructure (Roads, Railways, Airports, Dock & Harbor), Lifeline structures (Bridges, Dams & Canals) and structures for water supply.( http://www.upes.ac.in/infrastructureprogram.asp) 4. The integrated B.Tech + LL.B programs offered by the UPES College of Engineering Studies in collaboration with UPES College of Legal Studies are first of their kind programs in the whole of South Asia. The programs, awaiting approvals by the Bar Council of India, will create techno-legal professionals with an understanding of technical as well as legal aspects of specialized sectors such as Energy and IT. Besides engineering degree programs focused on energy and allied core sectors, UPES College of Engineering Studies also offers programs in Electronics and Computer Science.