German construction software group Nemetschek has signed an agreement with the University of Jeddah that gives students and faculty access to Bluebeam, Archicad, and Vectorworks, along with staff training and routes into work. It arrives as Saudi Arabia requires private firms to hire more Saudi engineers and architects while pushing digital building methods across a $1.3 trillion project pipeline.

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Since June 30, any private company in Saudi Arabia with five or more people working in one of 46 engineering professions, architecture among them, has had to ensure that 30 percent of those jobs are held by Saudi nationals accredited by the Saudi Council of Engineers. Design practices and contractors building stadiums, transit lines, and housing now have a legal reason, as well as a commercial one, to hire local graduates who can contribute from their first week on the job.

Most of those graduates will walk into offices where drawings are marked up on screen, buildings are modeled in 3D long before any concrete is poured, and whole project teams work from one shared set of digital files. Whether Saudi universities are teaching those tools well enough sits behind a new agreement between German software group Nemetschek and the University of Jeddah, signed this week.

What the Nemetschek and University of Jeddah Agreement Includes

Under the memorandum of understanding, Nemetschek will give students in engineering, architecture, design, and technology programs educational licenses for software from across its portfolio, including Bluebeam, Archicad, and Vectorworks. Faculty members will be trained to bring the tools into their own teaching, and qualified students and graduates will be offered training placements intended to lead into jobs.

Beyond the software, the two sides have agreed to look at co-developing professional diploma programs, working together on curriculum updates, and running workshops that put academics, practitioners, and industry experts in the same room. None of those plans has been fixed yet, which is normal for an agreement at the memorandum stage.

Muayad Simbawa, who leads Nemetschek's business in the region, spoke about the deal in terms of people rather than products.

“The future of the built environment will depend not only on the technologies we adopt, but on the people who know how to use them effectively. Collaboration between industry and academia is therefore essential to ensuring that students graduate with skills that reflect the realities of a rapidly evolving professional landscape. Through our partnership with the University of Jeddah, we look forward to sharing our industry expertise, supporting faculty and students with relevant digital tools and contributing to the development of curricula that connect academic learning with professional practice,” said Eng. Muayad Simbawa, Managing Director, Middle East, Nemetschek Group.

Why Digital Construction Skills Matter in Saudi Arabia

According to Oxford Business Group, Saudi Arabia had more than $1.3 trillion worth of construction and real estate projects planned or under way in early 2026. The government has made building information modeling mandatory on its own projects, with the Saudi Contractors Authority overseeing adoption, yet surveys by the Chartered Institute of Building Middle East show that companies are still short of staff with the digital skills to use it.

Government spending has also been redirected toward the 2034 FIFA World Cup and Riyadh's Expo 2030, AGBI reported in February, while plans for Neom and The Line have been scaled back. Both events have dates that cannot move, which leaves contractors needing teams that can coordinate designs digitally, catch conflicts between building systems before they reach the site, and keep documents flowing without paper.

Her Excellency Dr. Sarah Garamalla Al-Zhrani, Dean of the Design and Art Faculty, linked the partnership directly to the country's development plans stating: “At the University of Jeddah, we are committed to preparing a generation of future leaders equipped with the knowledge, skills and practical experience needed to support Saudi Arabia’s ambitious development journey. This partnership with Nemetschek Group reflects our vision of strengthening the connection between academia and industry while ensuring our students have access to leading technologies, innovative learning opportunities and meaningful professional experiences. Together, we aim to equip graduates with the competencies required to contribute to the Kingdom's future and support the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030.”

Nemetschek's University Partnerships in Saudi Arabia

The Jeddah agreement follows a similar partnership with Prince Sultan University in Riyadh announced in February, and both are built on the Nemetschek Global Academic Program, which gives students access to the same software professionals use. The company, whose shares trade on Germany's MDAX and TecDAX indexes, reported revenue of EUR 1.19 billion in 2025 and says more than 7.5 million people use its products worldwide.

For students in Jeddah, the most immediate change will be regular, hands-on time with software used on real projects around the world. How much the agreement achieves beyond that will depend on how many of them go on to earn their accreditation and land the engineering and design jobs that the new hiring rules, along with a crowded construction calendar, are opening up across the Kingdom.

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