What is the key challenge University students and graduates in Lebanon are facing?

Dr. Joseph Mezher: Lebanon is a small country, and the number of higher education graduates is increasing. The student population of USJ has increased by thirty percent the last decade. The number of private universities in Lebanon has jumped from ten to forty during the same period. The working opportunities are shrinking due to the various crises hitting the country, but the globalisation of the world economy opens new opportunities to our graduates, either in the regional or international arena under one condition: they have to "be competitive".

However, being competitive does not only mean having expertise in one's field; it is also the ability to deal with the outside world (be intercultural and interdisciplinary) and to be able to engage successfully both in cooperative and collaborative teamwork. These are the main challenge that graduates face and which USJ is trying to focus on. Being up-to-date is a must for one's carrier, and lifelong learning is one of the possible ways to fulfil this need. ICT plays a major role in lifelong learning and helps active people update their knowledge.

What kind of "Communities of Practice" have you established and why do they play a key role?

Dr. Joseph Mezher: Our experience in the community of practice has been gained with "Master's in Management" graduates. We have chosen graduates from the years 2002, 2003, and 2004 who are now are working in famous Lebanese or foreign organisations such as banks, insurance companies, the finance ministry, or the national airline, or who have begun their own small business. The first impression they have expressed is that -œit's fun … back to school". Ex-students have understood the importance of this network and have begun to propose work plans.

We have agreed upon the following stages:

• Each participant presents his/her current company, position, and tasks.
• We will search for common interests of themes to be debated by the community.
• We will put these themes in a forum that all can access and express their points of view about, followed by a general meeting where we synthesize all the ideas.

For example, the members decided to take advantage of having a peer who works in the Ministry of Finance in order to fully understand the changes that this ministry is trying to implement in the field of VAT field, to study these changes, and to be a "proposal force" by suggesting new ideas. This project was paused during this summer because of the war but will be resumed as soon as the working contact among members is reinitialised.

As we have stated in the verbal accord among the members, our graduates in management are to play a key role in developing our country by being a "proposal force" that studies various current themes; that is our main objective. The second objective is to keep all members up-dated with knowledge through this research in various fields and to be recognised as experts in management. The third objective is to enhance their ability for teamwork, interdisciplinary interaction, as well as inter-cultural interaction.

What do you expect from lifelong learning for the region in the near future?


Dr. Joseph Mezher: In recent years, lifelong learning has become a fundamental goal of education policies both at a national regional and international level. It is often advocated as a way to achieve socio-economic development. In our chaotic Middle East, the priority should be the employability of the entire workforce. That could be a major part of the solution to all past, present, and future problems!! Training and education have to play a key role in the region's economic regeneration.


Unskilled youngsters who have lived since childhood in a hectic environment deserve a second chance. The quickening speed of technological change means that many skills are becoming obsolete and the possessors of the skills redundant. This is particularly so in the case of older employees. In today's -œknowledge based- society, higher-education graduates are bound to update their knowledge. Education and training have to be lifelong.

Lifelong learning will help us recognize that the pace of change in our society is so fast that only a response that embeds the continuous upgrading of skills- or even changing skills - will provide the human capital needed to ensure employability in the future. The countries of the region should plan policies in order to ensure that they can achieve this crucial goal. In order to give concrete support to these policies, countries should support a range of programs across the Middle East like those created for lifelong learning in Europe.

Title of ONLINE EDUCA presentation:

Key Role of "Communities of Practice" in Lifelong Learning for University's Graduates in Lebanon

Date: Friday 14.30 - 16.00

Session: Promoting Lifelong Learning