About | College of Engineering & Petroleum
Vision:
"To become the leading college of engineering in the Middle East, recognized for its outstanding education, research and outreach programs and for the quality, character, and integrity of its graduates".
Mission:
"To provide students with quality engineering education, to advance and disseminate knowledge, and to lead society in enhancing its welfare".
Values:
1. Meeting the needs of the nation through excellence in teaching, scientific research, and community service.
2. Respect for all people and appreciation of diversity in our academic institutions.
3. Civic responsibility as characterized by public participation, accountability, and integrity.
4. Commitment to provide public services with responsibility and integrity.
5. Commitment to implement effective institutional evaluation processes throughout the college.
6. Commitment to basic principles and values.
The university's strategic plan consists of 4 strategic directives, 6 areas of focus, and 9 goals. The task of the college's Strategic Plan Committee was to prepare smart goals or indicators linked to the strategic directives, areas of focus, and goals prepared by the Planning Sector.
The committee consulted the following to create smart goals for the College of Engineering and Petroleum Strategic Plan 2018-2028:
• Previous strategic plans of the college
• Feedback from the academic departments and administrations of the college
• Situation analysis
• The strategic directives, areas of focus, and goals prepared by the Planning Sector
• Performance indicators from previous years
• Strategic planning tools
Kuwait University’s institutional mission to develop human capital and shape local progress and development prompted its leadership to establish the College of Engineering and Petroleum in September of 1975. Initially, the college featured three Departments: Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering; a year later, the Department of Chemical Engineering was added. The Computer Engineering program was introduced in 1985 within the Electrical Engineering Department, thereby changing the department’s name to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The Department of Petroleum Engineering was founded in the Fall of 1989. The Industrial and Systems Engineering Program was introduced within the Mechanical Engineering Department in September 1994 accompanying a change in department name to the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. In September 1997, the College of Engineering and Petroleum established the Architecture Department. In September 2000, the Computer Engineering Department was formally separated from the Electrical Engineering Department, and in September 2001 the Industrial and Management Systems Engineering Department was formally separated from the Mechanical Engineering Department. In 2011, the Department of Architecture was moved to the College of Architecture. The Department of Computer Engineering was administratively moved to the College of Computer Science and Engineering in 2013 but was returned to the College of Engineering and Petroleum in 2017 after the College of Computer Science and Engineering was dissolved.
Currently, the College awards Bachelor degrees in seven engineering majors: Chemical, Civil, Computer, Electrical, Mechanical, Industrial and Management Systems and Petroleum Engineering.
Graduate programs leading to Master of Science degrees in, Electrical, Civil, Mechanical and Chemical Engineering were introduced in September of 1985. The graduate program leading to the Master of Science degree in Computer Engineering was created in September 1994 and the graduate program leading to a Master of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering was created in September 2001 and Industrial and management system engineering in 2018. Furthermore, a Master of Science degree in Systems and Process Control Engineering was created in 2013. Two additional multidisciplinary graduate programs with other colleges of the university provide the students with the ability to enroll in integrated programs, i.e. the Master’s in Environmental Sciences, and the Master’s in Petroleum and Geosciences.
Since its establishment in 1975, the College of Engineering and Petroleum succeeded in becoming one of the top engineering schools in the region. The number of undergraduate students registered in the College increased from 127 students in 1975 to more than 4200 in 2024/2025. Approximately 14,000 students have thus far graduated with Bachelor degrees, and more than 1300 students have graduated with Masters degrees in the offered engineering disciplines. Faculty size grew significantly over the College’s 50-year history, from 12 in 1975 to 263 in 2025, which is an almost 21-fold increase.
Particular attention has been devoted to the College scholarship program, where the COEP sponsors highly qualified Kuwaiti nationals in their pursuit of doctoral degrees from leading educational institutions abroad. It is to the credit of this program that approximately 90 % of current COEP engineering faculty are Kuwaiti nationals who graduated from the top Universities in the world.
In October 2000, the Office of Academic Assessment (OAA) was established in the college under the supervision of the Office of the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs. The OAA is designed to undertake continuous academic assessment for the purpose of ensuring academic excellence across the College’s various educational offerings. The following bachelor degree programs in Engineering are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET (http://www.abet.org):
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Computer Engineering
• Electrical Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Industrial & Management Systems Engineering
• Petroleum Engineering
Enrollment Data
Student body per academic year
| Academic Year | CE | ChE | PE | ME | IMSE | EE | CpE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-2025 | 956 | 548 | 316 | 627 | 259 | 704 | 826 |
| 2023 - 2024 | 989 | 533 | 281 | 587 | 213 | 654 | 812 |
| 2022 – 2023 | 1015 | 535 | 283 | 594 | 200 | 591 | 768 |
| 2021 – 2022 | 911 | 530 | 284 | 496 | 176 | 526 | 675 |
| 2020 – 2021 | 974 | 598 | 320 | 666 | 204 | 677 | 671 |
| 2019 – 2020 | 985 | 652 | 337 | 776 | 263 | 825 | 710 |
| 2018 – 2019 | 949 | 626 | 348 | 870 | 308 | 1021 | 738 |
Graduation
Graduation per academic year
| Academic Year | CE | ChE | PE | ME | IMSE | EE | CpE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-2025 | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
| 2023-2024 | 185 | 95 | 41 | 83 | 40 | 93 | 137 |
| 2022 – 2023 | 224 | 86 | 52 | 122 | 41 | 109 | 122 |
| 2021 – 2022 | 152 | 111 | 55 | 123 | 40 | 148 | 99 |
| 2020 – 2021 | 181 | 101 | 57 | 144 | 42 | 161 | 102 |
| 2019 – 2020 | 174 | 132 | 63 | 97 | 65 | 186 | 75 |
| 2018 – 2019 | 189 | 113 | 58 | 86 | 67 | 222 | 65 |
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