The Ministry of Education opens an external competition for the recruitment of 25 principal engineers belonging to the common corps of engineers of public administrations, including 17 positions in civil engineering. Online registrations will take place from the 7 to 17 September 2026, ahead of the competition opening from 6 October, according to two decrees published in the Official Journal of the Tunisian Republic (JORT) No. 84 of 21 August.
The posts are distributed among four specialties: 17 in civil engineering, 3 in electrical engineering, 1 in fluid mechanics and 4 in computer science. The competition will begin on 6 October 2026 and will continue on the following days.
Who can participate in the competition?
The competition is open to candidates registered on the Engineers’ Order register, holders of the national engineering degree or an equivalent qualification and aged, in principle, at most 40 years, with age calculated in accordance with the regulatory provisions applicable to recruitment competitions in the public sector.
Applicants must first register their application remotely on the electronic site dedicated to the competition, then withdraw the application form to be included in the dossier.
The text specifies that any electronic application not containing all requested information, or containing incomplete or unclear data, will be automatically rejected.
The JORT does not specify, in the decrees published, the exact address of the electronic platform that will be used for registrations.
A two-stage selection
The competition comprises two phases: a first stage devoted to the study of applications, then a second in the form of an oral examination in the candidate’s specialty.
Pre-selection is based on a ranking taking into account academic and university results.
The calculation includes the baccalaureate average with a coefficient of 1 as well as the average of the three years of the engineering training cycle leading to the national engineering degree, with a coefficient 2. In the event of a tie between several candidates, priority is given to the oldest.
Candidates ranking at the top will then be invited to submit their complete dossier, at a rate of at least ten times the number of open posts in each specialty.
Based on the 25 announced posts, this therefore represents at least:
- 170 candidates for the 17 civil engineering posts;
- 30 candidates for the 3 electrical engineering posts;
- 10 candidates for the fluid mechanics post;
- 40 candidates for the 4 computer science posts.
So at least 250 candidates may be invited to compile their dossier at this stage.
What documents must be provided?
The application file includes notably the form from the electronic registration, a copy of the national identity card, an authenticated copy of the baccalaureate diploma or its equivalent as well as an authenticated copy of the national engineering degree.
For diplomas issued by private or foreign universities, a certified copy of the equivalence decision must accompany the diploma.
The candidate must also provide the transcripts of the baccalaureate and the three years of the engineering cycle, as well as a medical certificate dated within the last three months attesting to their physical and mental fitness to exercise their duties across the entire Tunisian territory.
The file also includes a birth certificate, a certificate of registration on the Engineers’ Order register for the year of opening of the competition as well as a criminal record extract dated within the last three months.
For candidates exceeding the maximum age of 40 years but who may benefit from the regulatory provisions relating to age calculation, the dossier must be completed with a certificate justifying the civil service actually completed or an registration with employment offices as a job seeker. The document must be dated within three months of the online registration deadline.
Any dossier received after the fixed deadline will be rejected. The same applies when documents are incomplete or do not correspond to the information declared during the electronic application.
A 45-minute oral examination
After verification of the files, the candidates selected for the second phase will be summoned by a notice published on the electronic site dedicated to the competition. This notice must be published at least 15 days before the date of the examination.
The oral examination concerns a topic related to the program attached to the decree and drawn at random.
If the candidate wishes to change the topic after the draw, the grade obtained will be halved.
The oral is scored out of 20 points and must enable the committee to assess both the candidate’s knowledge and behavioral aptitudes.
The exam lasts a total of 45 minutes, divided as follows :
- 15 minutes of preparation ;
- 15 minutes of presentation ;
- 15 minutes of discussion with the jury.
Another feature provided by the text: the candidate must present their talk in a language different from the one used during the discussion.
During the examination, candidates may not have books, publications, notes, electronic devices or other documents, unless the commission decides otherwise.
Any fraud or attempt at fraud detected results in immediate exclusion from the examination and its cancellation. The candidate may also be barred, for five years, from participating in any subsequent competition or administrative examination, without prejudice to the penalties provided by law.
Three dates to remember
For interested candidates, three deadlines must be noted:
7 September 2026: online registrations open.
17 September 2026: closing of the remote candidate list.
6 October 2026: opening of the competition, which will continue on the following days.
