By the tiswa editorial team, from the official sources listed at the end of this guide. How we write our guides
Eight continuous weeks inside a company, straight after junior year, followed by a written report. That is what the KFUPM civil engineering plan asks of every student on its summer training option.1 For most students it is the first time on a live site, and the point where they find out whether the job suits them. Below is the major as three Saudi universities and the Saudi Council of Engineers describe it, with no number that an official page does not give.
How many years is civil engineering in Saudi Arabia?
Four years after a preparatory year at KFUPM in Dhahran, five years on KAU's Rabigh campus. The content is similar. KFUPM simply puts maths and English into a separate prep year, while KAU spreads them through the plan.
| KFUPM | KAU (Rabigh) | KSU | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Programme | BS in Civil Engineering | Bachelor of Civil and Environmental Engineering | Civil Engineering department, which also runs surveying engineering |
| Length | 4 years plus a prep year1 | 5 years2 | See the department plan |
| Credit hours | 129 on the summer option, 128 on the internship option1 | In the programme plan | In the department plan |
| Accreditation | ABET1 | ABET for the Rabigh programme3 | National academic accreditation for the college's programmes4 |
At King Saud University in Riyadh, civil engineering is one of six departments in the College of Engineering, and surveying engineering sits inside it.4 So if surveying shows up on your preference list, treat it as a branch of civil, not a separate world. Plans also change between intakes at the same university. Save the plan for your own entry year from the department site.
Which civil engineering specialisations can you choose?
KAU's Rabigh department lists them plainly, and the list holds for most Saudi programmes:3
- Transportation engineering: roads and junctions.
- Construction engineering and construction project management, for people who like sites, schedules and budgets.
- Geotechnical engineering, the soils and foundations under everything else.
- Water resources and environmental engineering.
- Geomatics, plus coastal engineering for work along the Red Sea and Gulf coasts.
You do not pick on day one. Everyone takes statics, materials and fluids first, and electives plus the senior project set your direction in the last two years. To see what the first two semesters look like, read first-year civil engineering courses.
What weighted score do you need for engineering?
There is no fixed number. Each university announces its cut-off every year, based on a weighted percentage of your secondary school grade, the General Aptitude Test (Qudurat) and the Achievement Test (Tahsili). The KSU Deanship of Admission and Registration says every Saudi applicant must sit both tests, and it uses the highest score from the five years before you apply.5
For its engineering and computer science excellence track, KSU wants a weighted score of at least 90%. Then comes the part students forget: you must keep a first-year GPA of at least 4 out of 5 to stay on the track, or you are moved to another programme based on your indicators.5 Getting into the college does not get you into civil. The first year does.
Is civil engineering hard in second year?
Yes, and mostly for one reason: statics. Every structures course after it assumes you can draw a free body diagram without thinking and write the equilibrium equations with the right units. Struggle there and you pay for it a year later in structural analysis and reinforced concrete. KFUPM's bulletin also calls the field multidisciplinary, spanning buildings, structures, soils, transportation, water, wastewater and waste,1 so one semester can jump between very different kinds of calculation.
The upside is that the difficulty is predictable. No heavy programming course ambushes you the way it can in electrical, and the maths serves problems you can see from the car window. If you can grind through problem sets by hand, civil is harder to organise than to understand.
Where do you find a civil engineering internship in Saudi Arabia?
With contractors, design consultancies and the bodies that own infrastructure projects. KFUPM gives two routes: the 8-week summer placement after third year with a short report, or a longer internship of one or more semesters inside a company, which brings the total to 128 hours instead of 129.1 KAU lists summer or cooperative training as part of the degree.2
- Start asking in semester five
Ask your department's training unit which companies took students last year and when applications open.
- Build a one-page file
Lab reports and small design drawings count for more than course certificates.
- Choose the type of work before the company name
A construction site and a design office build different skills.
- Write the report as you go
Log each week in numbers: quantities, drawings, tests.
For the skills site supervisors look for, see co-op training for civil engineering students.
Do you have to register with the Saudi Council of Engineers?
Yes, before you work as an engineer. The Council links electronically with universities and colleges accredited by the Ministry of Education, and gives graduates of engineering programmes, Saudi or not, immediate professional accreditation once the degree is verified.6 Classification follows. The associate engineer grade requires the Fundamentals of Engineering exam (FE), and the professional engineer grade requires documented experience in your field plus the Principles and Practice exam (PE).7
One change matters for your intake. The Council now phases the professional exams in gradually, and they became optional for engineers who graduated before 2025.8 If you graduate later, read the Council's professional accreditation guide a semester before you finish, so you know whether the exam comes at registration or at promotion.
What do civil engineering students get wrong?
- Leaving drawing software until final year, then learning it under senior-project pressure.
- Memorising concrete design steps instead of understanding each assumption.
- Picking a training company for its name and spending eight weeks scanning documents.
- Trusting old cut-off numbers from forums.
- Assuming SCE accreditation comes with the degree, and only opening an account after the first job offer.
The fix for the first one is to start early with the right tools. We list what you need and when in software for civil engineering students.
If you are already thinking about that project, civil engineering graduation project shows how to frame the question.
