Kuwait overhauls expat engineers’ accreditation

Cairo: Kuwaiti labour authorities are set to change a mechanism for accrediting expatriate holders of engineering degrees, according to a media report.

The Kuwaiti Public Authority of Manpower (PAM) has decided to halt an MoU signed in 2018 with the Kuwait Engineering Association whereby the union was authorised to accredit expats’ engineering certificates and appellations of engineering-related foreign workers, Al Rai newspaper reported, citing what it termed as well-informed sources.

The decision was prompted by complaints that PAM received from employers and employees about the association’s accreditation procedures, the sources added without details.

“Besides, there is a tendency towards streamlining the vetting and accreditation mechanisms for engineering certificates,” the sources said.

While no decision is made yet on the agency to which the accreditation task will be devolved, the sources said the Ministry of Higher Education is likely to be the one to do the job, given it is a government institution and competent in sorting out education degrees.

Kuwait has recently stepped up measures to expose fake education degrees furnished by workers in government and private sector institutions.

The country’s Ministry of Education and the Civil Service Commission have recently taken steps to detect bogus degrees by examining education certificates of all state employees obtained since the year 2000.

In July and August, education authorities referred three groups of fake degrees to prosecutors.

The measure came upon a recommendation made by an investigation committee at the Ministry of Education associated with high school certificates issued in some Arab countries and approved in Kuwait.

The steps are part of the ministry’s anti-corruption efforts.

Al Rai recently reported that authorities plan to order employees found guilty of furnishing false documents to get government jobs to refund the state money they have illegally earned.