KUWAIT: The Civil Service Commission (CSC) agreed to exempt Kuwait University (KU) from applying the 'Kuwaitization' policy of replacing expatriate labor forces with national manpower in the current fiscal year 2017-2018.

A letter CSC sent to KU said the exemption request was reviewed by CSC and was granted upon the justifications presented by the university, including the fact that Kuwaitis seem to refrain from applying for many of the advertised job vacancies. KU also explained that it had reduced the number of expat employees from 379 to 324, and had laid off around 100 expat employees working in consultancy offices.

KU also stressed that the reduction led to a shortage in certain jobs Kuwaiti manpower usually refrain from, such as typists, couriers and mandoobs (representatives), especially in view of the growing number of KU students, the building of new KU centers and extending working hours up to 8:00 pm.

By A Saleh