IMHO, it was because the engineering departments of the universities were less ruined (than humanity/history/law departments, roughly, though they were not categorized like they are today), during the Great Cultural Revolution between 196x-1976, which were not fully restored until early 1980s.
Although the engineers are broadly parts of the intelligentsia community, they are kinda 'useful', and it was theorized that the worker-peasant-soldier students[1] were politically trustworthy, many of those students were sent to universities to fill in the blanks, and many of them became engineers(, and career as a worker in an industrial factory, together with residential records, or Hukou in a city was quite desirable then).
Now that China has been led by people who were born in 1950s or earlier for years, they were quite likely to be in universities during or after the Cultural Revolution years. It wouldn't at all be surprised that some of them were trained as engineer(, but diverted to administrative paths during career).
Although the engineers are broadly parts of the intelligentsia community, they are kinda 'useful', and it was theorized that the worker-peasant-soldier students[1] were politically trustworthy, many of those students were sent to universities to fill in the blanks, and many of them became engineers(, and career as a worker in an industrial factory, together with residential records, or Hukou in a city was quite desirable then).
Now that China has been led by people who were born in 1950s or earlier for years, they were quite likely to be in universities during or after the Cultural Revolution years. It wouldn't at all be surprised that some of them were trained as engineer(, but diverted to administrative paths during career).
[1] http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=J5QbQpQTegwC&pg=PA124&lp...