A recent study has highlighted an alarming trend of declining enrollments in engineering programs across Pakistan.
Data from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) shows a dramatic drop in participants, from 16,005 in 2017 to just 3,895 in 2024, marking a 76% decrease. The study, which compiled data from various educational boards, pointed to a continuous decline in students opting for pre-engineering programs. Experts believe this trend threatens the backbone of the country’s development.
The report, compiled by former vice chancellor Prof Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad and Umar Ahmad Noor, a research associate at the Earthquake Engineering Centre, University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Peshawar, warns that this trend could have serious implications for the future of the engineering sector in the country.
“Over the past decade, there has been a significant decline in the enrollment of students pursuing pre-engineering across the country. This decline has also affected enrollments in other disciplines, including physics, computer science, electronics, architecture, space sciences, and mathematics, all of which require pre-engineering as a foundational prerequisite,” the report stated.
Data from the Engineering Entrance Test (ETEA) at UET, Peshawar, showed that in 2018, 15,529 students applied, with 11,110 students in 2019. A major decline was noticed in 2020, with only 5,816 students appearing for the test. The numbers slightly improved in 2021 with 7,741 students but dropped again to 6,650 in 2022. In 2023, only 4,579 students were interested in studying engineering in KP. Surprisingly, only 3,895 candidates participated in the latest entrance test for 2024, significantly lower than in previous years.
In 2015, the Federal Board recorded 14,605 students in pre-engineering exams compared to 12,397 in pre-medical. By 2023, only 35% of students opted for pre-engineering, a sharp decline from 54% in 2015.
Over eight years, pre-engineering enrollments experienced a 19% decrease, while pre-medical enrollments saw a corresponding increase. This downward trajectory is consistent across various educational boards. The study, which analyzed enrollment figures and entry test participation rates, showcased a steady decline over the years.
The findings indicate a pressing need for stakeholders, particularly the Ministry of Planning and Development, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Pakistan Engineering Council, to take immediate and effective measures to promote engineering education.
and the solution proposed by VCs and ‘experts’ across the country is to allow pre-medical students to sit in the engineering entrance test…this will increase the number of engineering students…. I mean wow
They want max enrollment to earn money.what a foolish act by Foolish PEC to earn money.
Where are the jobs fruitcake? Why should students enroll when they don’t have jobs ?
It’s unfortunate that the decline in engineering student enrollment in KPK is partly due to increased involvement in political activities and extensive use of social media.
Political parties are exploiting the youth, affecting their potential and academic focus.
Additionally, some so called “influencers”, advocate for lower-skilled jobs without degrees, failing to differentiate between a “Mistry” and an engineer.
As a result, students fall prey to these influences, leading to reduced interest in demanding fields like engineering and potentially impacting their future opportunities.
Not everything wrong in Pakistan is due to politics or social media. There is always a dearth of engineering students every five years. It happened in the 70s then the 80s then the 90s and onwards . The market just saturates now and then and Engineers just can’t find the jobs they want. We have the same issue with medical as well.
Saturated ? There are lots doctors in pakistan compared to patients .
when you treat education as a business this happens. For engineering Pakistani firms or departments do not want to invest in new talent but rather want a prepared employee who knows everything from the start. rather than providing training and investing in employees’ skills, every single company in the country wants a ready-made engineer. No one even tries to provide internships and real-world experience to freshers. Pakistani companies and firms need to understand that not everyone is god-gifted majority of people learn by watching or under someone’s guidance this mere concept is incomprehensible to fuckload of people in Pakistan.
True . Agreed
good so KPK people again prove they are the most enlightened population. i actually think engineering universities should shut down for good.
100% agreed.PEC should also be closed.
Yeah that’s what happens when u can’t give jobs . Why should we study in college when we are not guaranteed jobs ?
All colleges should be created based on promise to get jobs in relevant field.
Diploma holders are sitting on Engineers seats and PEC is only offering courses instead of taking any action like PMDC .The main root cause of Engineering failure is this PEC nothing else.
No . The main cause is lack of Jobs
If u want a software engineer , mechanical engineer , chemical engineer , to work in call centers .
Then there is no need for studies
PEC is the main responsible for all this.They paly dirty politics there is no clear policy like PMDC and they just take money and give accreditation to every college.
Secondly all the diploma holders and Btech students are placed at engineers position.This need to be rectify else close the engineering council office everything will be ok.
The major trend is towards becoming computer scientist and online “skilled-labor” under the influence of social media that shows above 80% fake stories of becoming billionair in a night. People are frustrated due to poverty and want to become rich in days. Moreover, Pakistani students are not used to hardwork. They always search easy ways to get the degrees and afterwards, most of them want to become ” Afsar” and get salary without work. Teachers do not go to teach and students do not come to study. Another reason is the shutdown of industries. When there is no industry, there are no jobs why would people invest in a business that returns nothing but jobless people.
No it isnt . There is nothing out there .
Mechanical engineers cannot create anything since no one is hiring.
Software engineers cannot create apps or softwares or programs due to lack of such companies in pakistan
Chemical engineers cannot work sir to lack of such companies hiring
All they can do is either give CSS or get a job in a call center or move abroad ..
There are no jobs for engrs. My elder son is a graduate of NED yr 2020 in electronics but so far he has not found a job and is mostly working as an electrical engineer. He is still drawing 30K per month which even even does not suffice for his bike fuel. Whereas on the other hand an unskilled worker is having 36K per month as pay. So that’s the reason that students are reluctant to go for engrring. The auth that matters should look into this aspect as well
PEC is the main body which is trying its best to fail the engineering education in Pakistan. PEC should be banned or restructured like PMDC else their dirty political game will destroy everything. All Engineering seats are occupied by non-engineering nonregistered persons and almost every college in Pakistan is registered with PEC. Every university have 5 to 10 substandard campuses with zero facilities and surprisely they are recognized by PEC. Now the things will even goes worse as PEC announce that premedical students can also take admission in engineering. Its my humble advice not to take admission in Engineering.