This study examinedhow and to whatextent emotional intelligence contributes to students’ achievement mediated through psychological capital and academic engagement in higher education. A quantitative approach with a cross-sectional correlational design was employed. The sample consisted of 321(244 males and 77 females) final-year regular undergraduate engineering students from Bahir Dar Technology Institute (BiT), Bahir Dar University(BDU) in Ethiopia, selected using a stratified random sampling across eight departments in five faculties. Data were collected using the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS), short forms of the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ-12), and the Academic Engagement Scale (AES-12). Academic achievement was measured using Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA), collected from the institute’sregistrar. Structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood was utilized to test the proposed model and the hypothesized relationships. Mediation analysis revealed that psychological capital and academic engagement played a simple and serial mediation role in the relationship between emotional intelligence and academic achievement. The bootstrapping analysis confirms that the mediation effects were statistically significant. The squared multiple correlation suggests that approximately 72% (SMC = 0.720) of the variation in academic achievement can be attributed to the combined effects of emotional intelligence, psychological capital, and academic engagement. The findings underscore that emotional intelligence, psychological capital, and academic engagement are potential personal resources for students' academic achievement in higher education. The study suggests evidence-based interventions to enhance emotional intelligence in students to build psychological capital and increase academic engagement, leading to better academic outcomes