RIYADH, 30 December 2005 — The Saudi Council of Engineers has said that the membership of the council is mandatory for every engineer.
Reacting to a report published in Arab News, a council official expressed surprise that some Saudi engineers were unaware of the organization’s activities or the mandatory membership despite the fact that many expatriate engineers had registered themselves with the council.
The report published on Dec. 26 quoted some engineers as saying they were not aware of the importance of joining the council.
“We are surprised how some engineers living in the Kingdom do not know about the council and its activities,” said Saleh Abdul Rahman Elamr, secretary-general of the council, in a statement to Arab News.
He said such ignorance of the council’s activities is strange given the fact that it had conducted a massive publicity campaign through the media as well as by handing out brochures at public places. “We invited the media on every major occasion, conducted many press conferences, and issued press releases to the media on each and every event related to the election. The media has covered them quite well.”
The Saudi Council of Engineers held an election on Monday for its board of directors. Nadia Bakhurji became the first woman to be elected to the board.
Elamr said that membership of the council was mandatory for both Saudis and non-Saudis. The latter could enroll themselves as associate members. He said such lack of awareness on the part of some engineers is surprising, since most of the 71 candidates for the recent engineering council elections had organized election campaigns and used all means of canvassing to highlight their message in relation to the council.
Even so, the council points out, the membership to the council has grown around 600 percent over the last two years.
Elamr also highlighted the recent Professional Qualifications Project for Engineers in the Kingdom, which is being undertaken by the King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) to determine the criteria for evaluating the professional caliber of engineers. Only those passing the mandatory test would be eligible for practicing their profession.
“In a short period, thousands of new applications for membership and inquiries about registration flowed to the council to a level that the current department is overloaded and struggling to handle the requests,” the secretary-general said, adding that all this testifies to success on SCE’s part in reaching out to the engineering community. The council has invited engineers still unaware of its mandate to enroll themselves as members “rather than throwing stones at their own house.”
