REFLECTION OF THE LABOR MARKET CONDITIONS IN THE ELECTRICITY INDUSTRY ON THE DECLINE OF INTEREST IN TECHNICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATIONIN HIGHER EDUCATION OF IRAN

Pasandideh, Ashraf Sadat; Ghorban Shiroodi, Armita; Kamali, Hamed

doi:10.22047/ijee.2025.519642.2167

REFLECTION OF THE LABOR MARKET CONDITIONS IN THE ELECTRICITY INDUSTRY ON THE DECLINE OF INTEREST IN TECHNICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATIONIN HIGHER EDUCATION OF IRAN

Document Type : Scientific - Research

Authors

ashraf sadat pasandideh ¹

armita Ghorban Shiroodi ²

hamed kamali ³

¹ Assistant Professor, Management and Social Science Department, Niroo Research Institute, Tehran, Iran

² phD graduate of Higher Education, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, IRAN

³ Assistant Professor of Higher Education Governance, Institute for Social and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22047/ijee.2025.519642.2167

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of the electricity industry’s labor market on the attraction and retention of skilled professionals and the trend in students’ inclination toward engineering fields. Employing a mixed-methods approach, it combines secondary analysis of statistical data on engineering students and graduates (1989–2021) with thematic analysis of interviews conducted with managers and experts in the electricity sector. The results reveal a significant decline in the number of engineering students from 1.5 million in 2014 to less than 762,000 in 2020, and electrical engineering graduates from 56,591 in 2015 to 20,431 in 2021. This downward trend is partly attributed to labor market conditions in key industries such as electricity. In this sector, economic instability, declining investment, hiring constraints, and financial difficulties in private firms have reduced the motivation to study engineering, diminished retention in the industry, and increased professional migration. The study concludes by emphasizing the need to revise human resource policies, boost investment, foster innovation in the electricity sector, and strengthen university-industry collaboration.

Keywords

Engineering disciplines

electrical engineering

higher education

electricity industry

labor market

20.1001.1.16072316.1404.27.107.3.7

Subjects

Interdisciplinary Education in Engineering

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