A key reason Excel is the default is that people have access to it, while Matlab is prohibitively expensive.
One way to break that trend is to choose GNU Octave, the open source alternative to Matlab. The more widely GNU Octave gets used (or similar free tools) the more likely we are to move beyond an Excel by default engineering culture. GNU Octave covers a large percentage of Matlab features and is able to run Matlab code. https://www.gnu.org/software/octave/
There are other tools, like SageMath, that are built on Python and may make an even better Excel alternative for organization that aren't dependent on legacy libraries of Matlab code.
I've been a part of the SymPy team for several years including mentoring GSoC for two of those years.
The problem with SageMath is that you still have to convince people who are familiar with Excel to learn a new environment. Part of the reason why Excel is taught to the undergrads in that civil engineering program is that they use it in their co-op jobs. It becomes a self-perpetuating cycle since they don't learn any alternative as students so they go with what they know in their jobs.