aimed at

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1
  1. His lecture aimed at encouraging more students to pursue engineering course.
  2. His lecture was aimed at encouraging more students to pursue engineering course.
    Which one is correct?
2

Neither.

These are correct:
His lecture aimed to encourage more students to pursue engineering courses.
His lecture aimed to encourage more students to pursue an engineering course.

I’m not really happy with ‘aimed at’ as the verb in these two, though it’s difficult to explain why. I would prefer to see ‘focused on’.
His lecture was aimed at encouraging more students to pursue engineering courses.
His lecture was aimed at encouraging more students to pursue an engineering course.