The money from oil which enjoyed a fourfold increase in late 1973, enabled Iran to import more and more sophisticated technology. This created a huge demand for engineers. However, supply never equalled demand, and the discrepancy caused shortages of engineers throughout the country.
This article is an attempt to investigate the state of educational planning for engineers, a critical ingredient for the industrialization of I ran from 1962 to 1982. Some selected findings were:
(1) In the Third Development Plan, 1962Plan, -1967, the demand for engineers was 5,600 while the supply reached 3,065. The shortage totalled 2,535. (2) In the Fourth Development Plan, 1968Plan, 1972, there was a shortage of 7,707 engineers. (3) In the Fifth Development Plan, 1973Plan, -1978, when demand reached 36,400, the supply of engineers was 20,300. This plan was short by 16,100 engineers. The study also takes up the issue of engineering education in the post-Revolution period of 1979-1982. From the study, it was concluded that for educational purposes in Iran, there was never an adequate survey of markets and industries. Therefore, in establishing new engineering schools or expanding existing ones, the needs of the market were never properly taken into account. In cases where a plan existed, implementation did not correctly follow. The recommendations for solving the problem under the present circumstances conclude the research. Iran is a classic example of a developing country which, in its attempt to industrialize with the help from oil revenues, removed all financial barriers that other less developed countries faced. The money from oil enabled Iran to buy more of everything; however, as this study suggests, Iran failed to buy development. Development was a two-sided coin. On one side, there were physical resources such as money, infrastructure, raw materials and machinery, all of which could be bought with the oil money. On the other side of the development coin, human resource development was neglected.