The University of Balamand has welcomed a team of 3 international colleagues from the University of Limoges headed by Prof. Joseph Absi, Deputy Vice President for Sustainable Development, between 31st October and 2nd November 2022.

The visit was within the collaboration framework aiming towards finalizing the development of a joint degree between the University of Balamand and the University of Limoges. The joint degree has been developed to address the main concerns facing the water sector in Lebanon in an attempt to meet the United Nations SDG6.

After a lengthy and profound national study, the international partnership with the University of Limoges can see the University of Balamand take a leading role in the national initiative to educate and train the lack of technicians in the field of water (wastewater and potable water) in Lebanon equally meeting SDGs 3, 4 and 11. As such, a joint program has been developed to shed light and cover the expertise required in the technical part of this field.

In this context, the program was developed within a collaboration between the Issam Fares Faculty of Technology (IFFT) presented by Dr. Elie Karam, Dean of IFFT, Dr. Wahib Arairo, Chairperson of the Civil and Construction Department, and the Faculty of Engineering with Prof. Rami Abboud, Vice President for Internationalization and Engagement and Dean of Faculty of Engineering, and Dr. Marianne Saba, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering.

The visit of the French team has finalized and confirmed the progress of the joint degree development, and to further enhance the collaboration they selected the first group of students who will be traveling to France to receive a four-month internship and training to gain complementary knowledge and hands-on experience in the water and wastewater technologies.





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