RIYADH, 3 October 2005 — Non-Saudi engineers will not be allowed in future to practice their profession unless they qualify through an examination to be conducted by the Saudi Council of Engineers (SCE).
SCE Secretary-General Saleh El-Amr said the qualifying test would be similar to the one conducted by the Saudi Council of Health Specialties. No expatriate would be issued a license unless he passes the examination and becomes an associate member of the council, he added.
The SCE also announced that it would hold, for the first time, elections to the board of directors of the council all over the Kingdom on Dec. 8. These members, in turn, would elect the chairman of the council, El-Amr said at a press conference here yesterday.
The new regulation for engineers will be of interest particularly to new arrivals in the Kingdom. Currently, an estimated 85 percent of the engineering manpower constitutes expatriates. The Ministry of Labor is aware of the situation. However, it has exempted the profession from the purview of the law till qualified Saudis are ready to take over from expatriate engineers.
El-Amr said: “We are now in the process of preparing the bylaws of the examination, while the methodology is ready. It is an important project funded by the King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) and Saudi Aramco at a cost of SR16 million. The project will be implemented in two years. The study has been submitted to the council for its approval.”
Regarding elections, Dr. Omar I. Al-Abdulkarim, head of the election committee, said polling would be held on the same day from 8.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 17 different locations in the Kingdom. The board of directors consists of 10 primary members who are elected by the general assembly as per the provisions of the executive bylaw. The elected board members will then choose the chairman and his deputy from among them by secret ballot.
