News

L’Orient Le Jour interviewed in its May 28 edition Economy Professor at the Saint Joseph University Nizar Hariri during a recent seminar aiming to boost cooperation between universities and companies. Hariri who is also the coordinator of the Expertise and Recruitment Observatory at USJ pointed out that the project is being implemented in collaboration with the French University of Strasbourg and the Lebanese University, the Bassel Fleihan Financial Institute, Beirut Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the General Directorate of Higher Education. He said that since its onset in December of last year, the Observatory is seeking to link university education with the labor market through orienting students to those specialties that are highly in demand. Hariri told the newspaper that the domestic labor market can no longer assimilate fresh graduates, pointing to the soaring rate of unemployment in the country which largely affecting young people. The Observatory located inside the USJ College of Education Sciences, Hariri explained, helps companies identify the needed skills in order to train students. He stated that the main challenge at present is the upsurge in recruitment in the informal sector, which is feeding the migration of talented and highly qualified graduates. He urged officials to put in place policies aiming to address the current employment crisis. (L’Orient Le Jour, 28 May 2015)

A study prepared by Dr. Ali Takesh on media studies in the Arab world revealed that the number of universities teaching the subject have witnessed a surge by over 300% during less than ten years, from 40 and 70 institutions in 2000 and 2009 respectively to a total of 148 universities in 2014. Most of the universities are located in the Mashreq region followed by the Arab Gulf region. The above study indicated that while the investment and expenditure on information and media platforms have reached $12 billion, half of which allocated to television stations, the financial revenues barely reached $1.5 billion, which means that media in the Arab world is a losing investment with nil economic viability. But despite data indicative of an extensive media enrollment which comes second to business administration, media curricula in universities remain poor. This review was supported by another published by ESCWA which showed that the average per capita level of reading in the Arab region per year did not exceed two pages in 2003. Notwithstanding the academic courses and curriculum, the Lebanese universities are generally governed by politics which normally impede the educational process, particularly in the field of media. The field of work is usually dominated by political considerations and ‘twisted’ mechanisms of funding. Furthermore, the study revealed, that there is no proper follow-up of students by educational institutions whether before and after graduation which leaves students with little practical skills. (Al Hayat, 8 June 2015)

MP Walid Jumblat, represented by Progressive Socialist Party Secretary Zafer Nasser honored a number of women activists in the Party and in the Progressive Women Union (PWU), namely, Salma Sfeir, Nazha Sallum and Bdoor Zein Eddine Sayour. The ceremony was held at the National Library of the Chouf mountain town of Baaqline in the presence of the PSP’s vice presidents, Dureid Yaghi and Kamal Moawwad. Also attending were, General Director of the Ministry for the Displaced, Ahmad Mahmoud as well as Linda Matar and Yahya Khamis, and PWU president, Wafa Abed as well as other public figures. At the end of the ceremony, the honorees were presented the medal of Kamal Jumblat. (Al Mustaqbal, 9 June 2015)