Why are engineering graduates pursuing BCS or a life abroad?

Shawon is a fresh graduate from the Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) department of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). Although he has spent the last four years of his life to pursue his degree, he is unsure about what career he will pursue. Despite graduating from a top university, he feels that he has only two options open to him, BCS (Bangladesh Civil Service) or study abroad.

The dilemma Shawon faced is the same thousands of fresh engineering graduates from Bangladesh face every year.

Each year around 1100 students from BUET, 880 from KUET, 900 from RUET and 900 from CUET complete their Bachelor’s degree. Even with a degree from a prestigious university, they are more inclined to either study to get a government job or enroll at a university abroad.

Though the number of people interested in BCS has increased in the past 3-4 years, still more than half of the engineering graduates prefer traveling overseas for higher education. A big majority of those students never return.

So why do engineering graduates in Bangladesh feel they only have two options open after graduating?

The primary blame for that could be pinned on the education system. The inefficient and outdated curriculum is failing to equip the students with the tools they require to succeed in the modern workforce. However, it is also true that even after studying in this curriculum, many students are doing incredible things in academics and also professionally.

The main problem lies with the organisational structure of our country. The hierarchy is formed in such a way that only a handful of students will get good jobs. The number of jobs available for engineers or technical students in any government and semi government organisation is way smaller than the number of graduates. This results in lower retention of qualified graduates in Bangladesh

The social system in Bangladesh also plays a role. In Bangladesh, people crave for power and those who have it like to flaunt it. As a result, either a student decides to leave the country or tries to gain as much power as he can gain by getting a reputed job.

The second situation creates an ambition for BCS. Today BCS is considered the gold standard of jobs in the country. Very few jobs in Bangladesh provide as much job security, benefits and the ability to control the social and political situation. This makes BCS a dream form hundreds of thousands of people. The large presence of BUET, KUET, RUET and CUET graduates in the latest BCS appointments show that the country’s engineers are also enchanted by the BCS dream.

The dwindling opportunities in the private sector are also a big reason. Even if one joins a private company after overcoming such stiff competition, their work-life balance is guaranteed to go for a toss. Most of the private IT firms operate in US time. So the timing of the office does not match the rest of the country’s time schedules. Moreover, the workload in those companies is also very high, meaning the employees have be under pressure all the time. The last nail in the coffin is that many regular jobs including Bank jobs offer better benefits on a similar scale. Hence, many graduates choose to change their field.

The social realities in Bangladesh like stalking, pickpocketing, the traffic gridlock in cities and the misuse of power all around also motivates the students to either elevate themselves to a position of power through BCS or to abandon the country and try to build a better life in abroad.

What could be done to change this? The answer is very simple, as long as BCS remains as the most prestigious job with almost no alternative, graduates will be more inclined to pursue it. If not, they will choose to leave the country for good.

One way of combating this trend which could prove very effective is if top IT companies in the world can be persuaded to open local offices in Bangladesh. If this can be implemented, a lot of people will be tempted to remain in their own field. This will also create a demand for local companies. Moreover, private IT firms should be brought under a controlling body to safeguard the rights of the employees. Smaller IT firms should be given opportunities so they can flourish. Dependency on foreign company-based software and hardware should be reduced. Though e-governance is already being implemented, more efforts should be made in this regard.

*Latifur Rahman is an MBA student from the Institute of Business Administration, Dhaka University