SDG 4: Quality Education

Introduction


The Sustainable Development Goals (2015-2030), also known by its acronym SDGs, are an initiative promoted by the United Nations to give continuity to the development agenda after the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). There are 17 objectives and 169 targets proposed as a continuation of the MDGs, including new areas such as climate change, economic inequality, innovation, sustainable consumption and peace, and justice, among other priorities. After a negotiation process on the SDGs that involved 193 member states of the UN, on September 25, 2015, the 193 world leaders approved at a summit held in New York in a high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly, an Agenda entitled “Transform our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ", which entered into force on January 1, 2016. 

The objective of SDG 4 is to provide children and young people with quality and easy access to education and other learning opportunities, one of its goals is to achieve universal literature and arithmetic. A major component in acquiring valuable knowledge and profiles is the learning environment. Therefore, the an urgent need to build more educational facilities and also upgrade existing ones to provide safe, inclusive and effective learning environments for all.  

Education is seen as a force for sustainable development and peace. Children and young people who achieve certain skills such as reading, writing or counting are more likely to have better futures than those who did not. Education is the key to prosperity and opening the world to new opportunities. The world is changing and globalization requires the world's population to adapt quickly and learn to work with new technologies. Education helps develop intelligence and intellectual capacity in humans and increases the probability of breaking the cycle of poverty. 

Beirut, April 30, 2018 - The Government of Lebanon is leading an innovative initiative to help the country regain its glory as a regional center of educational excellence in learning outcomes in line with international standards and the needs of the labor market. 

The Lebanese University is the only public institution in Lebanon that carries out the functions of public higher education with its various specialties and degrees, scientific research and continuing education through: 

GOAL 4: Quality Education  


Among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted in 2015, SDG4 is dedicated to education. Higher education is mentioned in target 4.3 of SDG4 which aims to by 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university. 

Since the ultimate function of the university is to provide youth with quality education, it has the responsibility to advocate the importance of SDGs in research, institutional culture, cooperation with other universities or organizations and preparing public-mindful leaders. 

Subsequently, the university must provide research knowledge, innovations and solutions towards achieving the SDGs. It must also advocate for faculty members to help students to set up projects, activities, campaigns… helping to promote the importance of being an active member of society. It must also cooperate with other institutions for higher education, and private and public organizations to identify educational problems and potential solutions in order to create a more sustainable, inclusive and innovative world. Also, the university is a powerful institution that provide teaching. Learning inside the classroom isn’t enough to ensure graduates who can translate what they have learnt in books to real-word applications. 

The SDG4, has a roadmap framing the Education 2030 Framework for Action (FFA), in favor of higher education and recognizing that a well-established and well-regulated tertiary education system can improve access, equity, quality and relevance. It can also reduce the difference between what is taught and what needs to be learned to ensure sustainable development and take advantage of technology, open educational resources and distance education. 

The Quality assurance in higher education is implemented for a better performance of higher education institutions and a better use of resources for higher education. Although challenges could be identified in this field such as mismatch between higher education graduate skills and those demanded by the labor market and industry. 

Lebanon voluntary National review

For this reason, the Lebanese University is applying a strategy to build capacity for quality assurance in higher education, through participating to international conferences on Quality Assurance in Higher Education and regional events and activities as well as implementing international and European Erasmus projects CBHE such as E-Taleb, TLQAA and TLQAA+ since 2011, and by cooperating with international organization working on evaluation and accreditation such as HCERES (haut conseil pour l’evaluation de la recherche et de l’enseignement superieur francais) for its academic and research programs. Agreement signed on 28 October 2018.  

The Lebanese University has set another axis for its educational strategy for the recognition of higher education qualifications. Indeed, developing the internationalization strategy at the Lebanese University by establishing a number of conventions for joint diplomas namely at the Master level, and by increasing a considerable number of conventions that frame the joint PhD thesis, at the regional and international level. Also, the Lebanese University provide its academic and technical support through implementing and monitoring European projects (Erasmus projects) for staff and teachers mobility as well as for capacity building in higher education CBHE, in order to exchange experience, learning, best practices and knowledge, and collect data, that could contribute to put common standards with the stakeholders for the recognition of higher education qualifications (.report concerning the recent Erasmus projects key action 2 with the participation of the Lebanese University)   

The Lebanese University aims on the future to be member of a global convention on the recognition of higher education qualifications that could be established by UNESCO, in order to reduce the obstacles faced by students, in particularly refugees, teachers, researchers and jobseekers outside their countries in terms of recognition of their higher education qualifications. The Lebanese University has the willingness to be part of a globally recognized qualifications passport, drawing from the experiences and methodology of the European qualifications passport (EQP) initiative taken by the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education. 

At the national level, the Lebanese University encourages the strategy to establish a national center by the ministry of education and higher education at Lebanon, for the recognition of higher education qualifications. 

Subsequently, the Lebanese University participated to the TLQAA+ Erasmus project 573958- 2016-LB-EPPKA2-CBHE-SP with the partnership of Balamand University (Lebanon) Programme Evaluation for Transparency and Recognition of Skills and Qualification. 

Also, the Lebanese University participated to the ETALEB Erasmus project in partnership with Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik (Lebanon) in order to set the Professional Standards Framework for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Lebanese Universities 

Also, the Lebanese University participated to the LEBPASS Erasmus project 598532-EPP-1-2018- 1-LB-EPPKA2-CBHE-SP in partnership with Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik (Liban) aiming to implement the Lebanese Diploma Supplement. 

Refugees and displaced students 

 The Lebanese University, being the only public institution for higher education in Lebanon has the biggest number of Syrian students enrolled at its faculties. For this reason, the Lebanese University strives to cooperate with European organization to provide them with scholarship, orientation, facilities for their integration, within the limits of its financial and logistic capacities. Subsequently, the Lebanese University had cooperated in Hopes project, that had provided scholarship for hundreds of Syrian students allowing them to pursue their academic studies at the Lebanese University, and had cooperated with the British council to give them courses in English language in order to facilitate their integration and comprehension for the courses taught in English language. 

The Lebanese University participated to the Erasmus project MORALE (598318-EPP-1-2018-1-LB- EPPKA2-CBHE-JP) in partnership with the Beirut Arab University (Lebanon) aiming to modernize curricula for Syrian and Lebanese HEIs and lifelong learning provision towards sustainable NGOs management and operation with special focus on refugees. 

The Lebanese University participated to the Erasmus project RESCUE 573665-2016-IT-EPPKA2- CBHE-JP in partnership with UNIMED (Italy) Refugees Education Support in mena CoUntriEs aiming to support and orientate Syrian and refugee’s students to pursue their studies in the higher education sector. 

The Lebanese University established an agreement with the HOPES project –Opportunities and Areas of higher education for Syrians funded by the European union regional trust fund in response to the Syrian crisis Madad Fund and implemented by the German academic exchange service DAAD in partnership with the British Council , campus France and Netherlands organization for international cooperation in higher education NUFFIC in order to improve the prospects of young Lebanese with limited financial capabilities and the displaced syrian youth and to contribute to their preparation to build their community by providing educational opportunities in the field of higher education in the host communities, through many courses approved as university counselling services, scholarship fund, English language program, short program support and partner dialogue. The agreement was signed on 15 June 2017. 

The Lebanese University established an agreement with the British Council on September 2017.  

Aiming to increase the numbers of Syrian students enrolled and trained in certified and internationally recognized higher and further education programs and training courses, to improve the capacity of the Lebanese University by providing young Syrians and other vulnerable groups with opportunities to access further and higher education opportunities and to provide scholarships and establish a counselling mechanism to enable access to information and support to young Syrians about existing opportunities for further and higher education.  

The Lebanese University established an agreement with the Commission des titres d’ingenieurs on 12 December 2018. 

 

Aiming to implement a process of evaluation and accreditation to the faculty of engineering, and recently the faculty of engineering obtained the accreditation from the CTI (doc28),

The Lebanese University established an agreement with local universities in order to exchange skills, information, and expertise in all the fields of common interest, such as: 

Aiming to spread culture and awareness in the Lebanese society, developing human resources skills, joint analyses, developing values and integration in the Lebanese society

For the entrepreneurial and employability development 

The Lebanese University has adopted an axis inside its strategy for internationalization aiming to develop the relations with the entrepreneurial and industrial and economic sector, in order to give the students, the necessary skills and competencies to facilitate their integration in the national, regional and international labor markets, through its participation in RESUME Erasmus project CBHE for employability, 561988-2015-IT- EPPKA2-CBHE-SP in partnership with UNIMED (Italy) related to Réseau Méditerranéen pour l’Employabilité ref: www.uni-med.net/progetti/resume 

and through the Tempus project Bokra Job that had implemented career center, the Lebanese University had open a large way to its students to be more oriented for the best choice of their career in the future, and had consolidated the relations with the industrial and socio-economic sector to exchange knowledge, training and best practices, allowing students to be more creative and innovative. The Lebanese University has the willingness to develop more and more its internationalization strategy concerning the artificial intelligence and the economic knowledge, knowing the worldwide importance of these fields and their impact in the advancement of the societies. 

Digital higher education 

The Lebanese University participated to the Erasmus project DIGITAL598243-EPP-1-2018-1-SE- EPPKA2-CBHE-JP Linné universitetet (Suède)Innovative DIGItal skills aiming to innovate teaching methods for effective health education.

The President of the Lebanese University Prof. Fouad Ayoub announced that the Lebanese University has obtained the Institutional Accreditation from the High Council for Evaluation of Research and Higher Education (Hcéres), an official institution recognized in France for the evaluation and accreditation of the various institutions of higher education in France, Europe and worldwide. 

The accreditation period is three years and the Hcéres Committee will visit the University following this period to review the implemented recommendations and decide whether to extend the accreditation for an additional two years. 

Based on the standards of quality management systems, the Student Affairs Departments of the Faculties of Information, Pharmacy, Public Health, Tourism and Hotel Management obtained a three-year ISO 9001:2008 quality standard certification on 21 October 2015. 

ISO standards are steps that establish quality management systems aimed at providing quality products or services. 



The Center for Language Sciences & Communication of the Faculty of Letters & Human Sciences at the Lebanese University organized a training workshop during which master’s degree students trained a number of school teachers on how to use digital tools in the e-learning process. 

The workshop was held from 14-18 September 2020 in cooperation with “Al Nour Association For Education” under the supervision of Dr. Samar Zaitoun, Director of the Center. COVID-19 preventive measures were taken, including social distancing, where professors were divided into six groups to preserve the safety of participants. 


Pursuant to the cooperation agreement signed with “University College London” (UCL), the Center of Language Sciences and Communication at the Lebanese University - Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences (FLHS) launched on 17 May 2020, the massive open online course (MOOC) entitled "E-Learning, Be Ready Now". 

The course targets specialists from the higher education sector and previous cycles, and aims to develop the participants' capacities to acquire a pedagogical experience in favor of e-learning using technological tools for interactive activities

The Lebanese University - Faculty of Economics & Business Administration obtained on 5 June 2020, after presenting its candidacy for the first time, a certificate of accreditation from the “Association of Accredited Schools of Business” (AASBI), an American accreditation agency for business schools around the world. 

The certificate, valid from 1 January 2020 to 31 January 2023, was awarded in recognition of compliance with the Institute’s Generally Accepted Education Principles, in the fields of business administration science offered by the Faculty to its Bachelor and master's degree students. 

The French High Council for Evaluation of Research and Higher Education (HCERES) granted the Faculty of Information at the Lebanese University on 20 July 2020, the certificate of academic accreditation for its 13 programs at the Bachelor's and Master's levels for five years. 

HCERES is the body authorized in France and Europe to grant quality and accreditation certificates to all higher education institutions after conducting a comprehensive evaluation process for the institutions and their programs. 

HCERES results noted the development adopted by the Faculty of Information in its programs three years ago, including the launch of the "Data Science" specialization as the first of its kind in Lebanon, as well as the development of Bachelor's and Master's programs in journalism by adding digital and electronic media to the educational and applied curricula.