Only 15% engineers are Saudi

RIYADH: The chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Council of Engineers, Jamil Al-Bagawi, said that the number of expat engineers in the Kingdom stands at 200,000 against 35,000 Saudi engineers registered with the council, accounting for just 14.8 percent of the total.
Al-Bagawi said that such a figure poses many challenges for the industry as a whole and for the council in particular. Yet it presents an opportunity to increase the number of Saudi engineers.
"The Saudi Council of Engineers seeks to encourage Saudi students to choose the required engineering specialties to replace expats employed in many engineering jobs", said Al-Bagawi.
He said that one of the important factors relating to increasing the number of Saudi engineers is the existence of distinguished cadre, and a competitive salary ladder linked with training and development plans.
"The proportion of Saudi engineers is low in comparison with non-Saudis in the Kingdom, and the reason is probably that the salaries are not attractive enough. For students who want to study engineering, the government sector is not encouraging, unlike the private sector where there is brighter career prospects and excellent salaries. That's why Saudi engineers are more inclined to join major corporations such as Aramco and SABIC", he added.
On the issue of improving the engineering cadre in the Kingdom, he said: "The Council has demanded the improvement of the system. This will encourage and attract Saudi students to join the industry as the system will be linked with a training, development and promotion program according to accurate assessment calibrators."
He said that there are currently 5,700 engineering jobs vacant in the government sector, according to the figures of the Civil Service. "This has contributed to the appointing of consultative engineers to do other engineering jobs with higher salaries amounting to almost double the amount of the salaries received by regular engineers," he explained, adding that the promotions will be included in a new plan involving tests to assess and evaluate the competence of the engineer during future stages.
"The evaluation tests will be completed with the cooperation of the Council and with the National Center for Assessment (Qiyas)", he said.
He noted that the Council seeks to develop Saudi engineers as experts and innovators so that they help in turning the development wheel of the country and boosting the industrial and economic standing of the Kingdom, without having to recruit large numbers of engineers from abroad.