diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 1e8faff7d..f82483134 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -180,7 +180,10 @@ jobs:
           VER: '3.0'
           CPPSTD: c++11
         - SWIGLANG: scilab
-          os: ubuntu-18.04 # scilab-6.1 in ubuntu-20.04 not yet working
+          VER: '5.5.2'
+        - SWIGLANG: scilab
+          os: ubuntu-18.04 # scilab 6.0
+        - SWIGLANG: scilab
         - SWIGLANG: tcl
         # c++11 testing
         - SWIGLANG: csharp
@@ -213,7 +216,9 @@ jobs:
           CPPSTD: c++11
         - SWIGLANG: scilab
           CPPSTD: c++11
-          os: ubuntu-18.04 # scilab-6.1 in ubuntu-20.04 not yet working
+          os: ubuntu-18.04 # scilab 6.0
+        - SWIGLANG: scilab
+          CPPSTD: c++11
         - SWIGLANG: tcl
           CPPSTD: c++11
         # c++14 testing
@@ -249,7 +254,9 @@ jobs:
           CPPSTD: c++14
         - SWIGLANG: scilab
           CPPSTD: c++14
-          os: ubuntu-18.04 # scilab-6.1 in ubuntu-20.04 not yet working
+          os: ubuntu-18.04 # scilab 6.0
+        - SWIGLANG: scilab
+          CPPSTD: c++14
         - SWIGLANG: tcl
           CPPSTD: c++14
         # c++17 testing (using gcc11)
@@ -298,7 +305,6 @@ jobs:
         - SWIGLANG: scilab
           CPPSTD: c++17
           GCC: 11
-          os: ubuntu-18.04 # scilab-6.1 in ubuntu-20.04 not yet working
         - SWIGLANG: tcl
           CPPSTD: c++17
           GCC: 11
diff --git a/Examples/Makefile.in b/Examples/Makefile.in
index eeb7a25a5..67db611b7 100644
--- a/Examples/Makefile.in
+++ b/Examples/Makefile.in
@@ -1357,6 +1357,7 @@ r_clean:
 SCILAB = @SCILAB@
 SCILAB_INC= @SCILABINCLUDE@
 SCILAB_OPT = @SCILABOPT@
+SCILAB_VERSION = @SCILAB_VERSION@
 SCILAB_LIBPREFIX = lib
 
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -1389,7 +1390,7 @@ scilab_run:
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------
 
 scilab_version:
-	echo `$(SCILAB) -version | head -1`
+	echo `$(SCILAB) -nwni -version | head -1`
 
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------
 # Cleaning the scilab examples
diff --git a/Tools/CI-linux-install.sh b/Tools/CI-linux-install.sh
index 99614550c..ff194c719 100644
--- a/Tools/CI-linux-install.sh
+++ b/Tools/CI-linux-install.sh
@@ -137,11 +137,14 @@ case "$SWIGLANG" in
 		fi
 		;;
 	"scilab")
-		# Travis has the wrong version of Java pre-installed resulting in error using scilab:
-		# /usr/bin/scilab-bin: error while loading shared libraries: libjava.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
-		echo "JAVA_HOME was set to $JAVA_HOME"
-		unset JAVA_HOME
-		$RETRY sudo apt-get -qq install scilab
+		if [[ -z "$VER" ]]; then
+			$RETRY sudo apt-get -qq install scilab scilab-include
+		else
+			$RETRY wget --progress=dot:giga "https://www.scilab.org/download/$VER/scilab-$VER.bin.linux-x86_64.tar.gz"
+			# $HOME/.local/bin is in PATH and writeable
+			mkdir -p "$HOME/.local"
+			tar -xzf "scilab-$VER.bin.linux-x86_64.tar.gz" --strip-components=1 -C "$HOME/.local"
+		fi	
 		;;
 	"tcl")
 		$RETRY sudo apt-get -qq install tcl-dev
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 5a9cea5ef..641b16aa2 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1218,7 +1218,7 @@ if test x"${SCILABBIN}" = xno; then
 else
   # Check for Scilab executable
   if test "x$SCILABBIN" = xyes; then
-    AC_CHECK_PROGS(SCILAB, scilab)
+    AC_PATH_PROG(SCILAB, scilab)
   else
     AC_MSG_CHECKING(for scilab)
     if test -f "$SCILABBIN"; then
@@ -1231,18 +1231,18 @@ else
 
   if test -n "$SCILAB"; then
     # Check for Scilab version (needs api_scilab so needs version 5.3.3 or higher)
-    SCILAB_FULL_VERSION=`$SCILAB -version | head -1 | sed -e 's|Scilab version \"\(.*\)\"|\1|g'`
+    SCILAB_VERSION=`$SCILAB -nwni -version | head -1 | sed -e 's|Scilab version \"\(.*\)\"|\1|g'`
 
     AC_MSG_CHECKING(Scilab version is 5.3.3 or higher)
-    SCILAB_MAJOR_VERSION=`echo $SCILAB_FULL_VERSION | cut -d. -f1`
-    SCILAB_MINOR_VERSION=`echo $SCILAB_FULL_VERSION | cut -d. -f2`
-    SCILAB_MAINTENANCE_VERSION=`echo $SCILAB_FULL_VERSION | cut -d. -f3`
-    SCILAB_VERSION="$SCILAB_MAJOR_VERSION$SCILAB_MINOR_VERSION$SCILAB_MAINTENANCE_VERSION"
+    SCILAB_MAJOR_VERSION=`echo $SCILAB_VERSION | cut -d. -f1`
+    SCILAB_MINOR_VERSION=`echo $SCILAB_VERSION | cut -d. -f2`
+    SCILAB_MAINTENANCE_VERSION=`echo $SCILAB_VERSION | cut -d. -f3`
+    SCILAB_VERSION_NO_DOTS="$SCILAB_MAJOR_VERSION$SCILAB_MINOR_VERSION$SCILAB_MAINTENANCE_VERSION"
 
-    if test $SCILAB_VERSION -ge 533; then
-      AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
+    if test -n "$SCILAB_VERSION_NO_DOTS" && test "$SCILAB_VERSION_NO_DOTS" -ge 533; then
+      AC_MSG_RESULT(yes - $SCILAB_VERSION)
     else
-      AC_MSG_RESULT(no)
+      AC_MSG_RESULT(no - $SCILAB_VERSION)
       SCILAB=
     fi
 
@@ -1250,22 +1250,27 @@ else
       # Set Scilab startup options depending on version
       AC_MSG_CHECKING(for Scilab startup options)
       SCILABOPT="-nwni -nb"
-      if test $SCILAB_VERSION -ge 540; then
+      if test $SCILAB_VERSION_NO_DOTS -ge 540; then
         SCILABOPT+=" -noatomsautoload"
       fi
-      if test $SCILAB_VERSION -ge 600; then
+      if test $SCILAB_VERSION_NO_DOTS -ge 600; then
         SCILABOPT+=" -quit"
       fi
       AC_MSG_RESULT($SCILABOPT)
 
       # Check for Scilab header files
       AC_MSG_CHECKING(for Scilab header files)
+      headers="`AS_DIRNAME(["$SCILAB"])`/../include"
       if test "$SCILABINCDIR" != ""; then
         dirs="$SCILABINCDIR"
+      elif test -d "$SCI"; then
+        dirs="$SCI/include $SCI/../../include"
+      elif test -d "$headers"; then
+        dirs="$headers"
       elif test -n "$PKG_CONFIG "; then
         dirs=`$PKG_CONFIG  scilab --cflags-only-I | sed -e 's/-I//g'`
       else
-        dirs=""
+        dirs="/usr/include"
       fi
       for i in $dirs; do
         if test -r $i/api_scilab.h; then
@@ -1290,6 +1295,7 @@ fi
 AC_SUBST(SCILAB)
 AC_SUBST(SCILABINCLUDE)
 AC_SUBST(SCILABOPT)
+AC_SUBST(SCILAB_VERSION)
 
 
 #----------------------------------------------------------------