The dean of the Tunisian Order of Engineers, Mohsen Gharssi, has sounded the alarm over the growing exodus of skilled professionals. Out of the 110,000 engineers registered with the Order, more than 45,000 are estimated to have left Tunisia in recent years, lured abroad by better career opportunities and higher pay.
Speaking on Tuesday in Zaghouan at the National Engineers’ Day, held under the theme “Engineers: A Lever for Sustainable Development and the Circular Economy,” Gharssi highlighted the increasingly precarious status of Tunisian engineers. “The material and social conditions of many engineers have significantly deteriorated,” he said, recalling that a February 2021 agreement with the government — which was meant to extend a specific allowance to engineers in the public sector — has still not been implemented.
The ceremony, attended by Zaghouan’s governor Karim Barnaji, brought together representatives from the industrial sector and academia. Discussions focused on the challenges of sustainable development and the circular economy, two areas where engineers play a pivotal role in the ecological transition and in modernising the country’s productive system.
A project to establish a green zone within the Djebel Oust industrial area was also unveiled. The initiative, jointly led by the Order of Engineers and the Industrial Zone Management and Maintenance Association, aims to promote more environmentally friendly production and strengthen local public-private partnerships.
The event concluded with a tribute to several engineers from both the public and private sectors for their contributions to national development. The Order reiterated its call to revalue the engineering profession and to ensure the implementation of government commitments, stressing that the ongoing brain drain poses a direct threat to the country’s competitiveness and innovation capacity.
According to the Order, Tunisia loses between 6,000 and 8,000 engineers every year, mainly to Europe and the Gulf region. The sectors most affected include information technology, energy, and civil engineering — fields where national demand remains high.
MK/ac/lb/as/APA