Have you also heard of licensing, void warranty/support, tempering with OEM equipment? There are many more terms that defines that a product can't be changed unless authorized by OEM.
And PAF has mechanics to replace parts to keep the fleet running.
The "engineers" would make their way to PAC not PAF. I actually studied aircraft maintenance "engineer" in Canada. We're parts changer and nothing more.
The courses you are mentioning in your field of study are being covered at School of aeronautics and school of electronics, Karachi where PAF technicians undergo basic, intermediate and advance training and education. These technicians are further trained on the job at various level of maintenance process. All junior technicians are being continuously monitored, supervised and trained by their superiors or sometime engineers. Some of these technicians are also assigned in manufacturing and overhauling process at various depot level maintenance facilities and PAC. PAF human resource management is one of the most modern system implemented to attain optimum skilled and experienced human resource at various maintenance and manufacturing facilities.
Whereas PAF engineers complete their undergraduate studies in College of Aeronautical Engineering (CAE) PAF Academy Risalpur. CAE is affiliated with National University of Science and Technology (NUST). The undergraduate engineering courses cover subjects like aerodynamics, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, aircraft designing, electronics, computer engineering and many more. All these courses are being taught by highly qualified professors holding MS and PhD qualification from world elite universities including MIT, Stanford and many more.
Engineering graduates scoring GPA 3.0 or more are being sent for higher studies at various foreign universities offering engineering courses related to field of aerospace engineering.
In addition to this PAF had also took initiative to open an Air university at Islamabad offering courses in various fields such as science, social science, business management, engineering and medical science. College of Flying Training PAF Academy Risalpur is also affiliated with AU and offer BS degree in BS (Aviation Sciences and Management) with specialization in Fighter, Light Communication Aircraft, Helicopter Air Defense, Air Traffic Control, Logistics. The part of senior faculty comprises of retired PhD and MS engineers from sister military services.
Apparently your statement about your field of study reveals that it is related to career as license aviation engineer who work as maintenance engineers at various Air ports. Yes, license aviation engineers supervise first and second level maintenance of passenger aircraft, meaning supervision of reported fault trouble shooting, part replacement and clearance for airworthiness.
Tweaking/upgradation/modification/major repair and indigenous manufacturing are always done with or without permission of OEM. In RD-93 case, it is most apparent that PAF and their Chinese partners must have contacted the Russian manufacturer to address the problem, for which a contract was also signed between Chinese firm and Russian manufacturers, but due to its low priority, PAF and/or Chinese partners might have taken the initiative to carry out indigenous "tweaking".
