Impact of Covid-19 Lockdown on Engineering Education System; A Survey Based Case Study in Pakistan

Abstract

The education system in Pakistan is suffering a lot of challenges in this modern world of advanced technologies. The engineering and technical education system is implementing modern techniques to improve the quality of education. The current disaster of coronavirus has badly affected the operation of engineering education in Pakistan, and student and faculty members are suffering from several issues in implementing a successful online education of digital semester. Each stakeholder has their own problems to make online education efficient. A questionnaire survey has been conducted with students as well as faculty members of engineering disciplines from different institutions. Different problems and issues are discussed with both stakeholders to observe the flaws which have been suffered by Pakistan’s higher education in the engineering sector. The effect of teacher’s academic profile, their attitude, professional field experience and advanced skills were discussed with 1000 students randomly. Similarly, 100 faculty members were questioned regarding the problems of the digital education system and pandemic effects on their performance. Various observations are concluded with this short survey-based research, and some suggestions are provided to improve the quality of education in this pandemic situation. The proposed solutions include the training sessions for teachers to get quipped with digital technologies, enforcement of lab sessions by opening all institutions at least one day a week, and professional experience requirements for the eligibility of academic staff.