Under the patronage of the President of the Lebanese University (LU), Professor Fouad Ayoub, the dissemination conference of the RESCUE “Refugees Education Support in MENA Countries” Project was held at the Lebanese University, Central Administration on behalf of the Lebanese partner universities, the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) and the Lebanese International University (LIU).

The RESCUE project (Refugees Education Support in Mena Countries) is a project within the framework of Capacity Building in the field of Higher Education, co-funded by the ERASMUS+ Program of the European Union and Coordinated by UNIMED (Mediterranean Universities Union). The main objective of the project is to increase the capacity of universities of the target countries in answering the needs of refugee students where the concentration of refugees is higher, namely in Lebanon, Iraq (Kurdistan) and Jordan.

As a result, a Refugee Student Operational Support Unit – R-SOS is created within each target university to provide local universities with a fundamental tool to structure specific services supporting the refugee students in resuming their academic or training path.

The dissemination conference was followed by the opening of the R-SOS unit at the Lebanese University located in the Office of Foreign Language Coordination, Faculty of Fine Arts and Architecture building, Furn El Chebbak.

The event was attended by Mr. Raniero Chelli, UNIMED Senior Project Manager and RESCUE project Manager, Mr. Aref Al-Soufi, Coordinator for the National Erasmus+ Office in Lebanon, Mrs. Agatha Abi-Aad, Associate Education Office – UNHCR, Lebanon, Mrs. Hoda Nehme, Deputy President for Cultural Affairs, The Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Mr. Abdallah Chebly, EU Delegation to Lebanon, Mrs. Bahar Sayyas, Director of DAAD Information Center, Mrs. Monica Zecca, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute, Lebanon, Mrs. Asma Chamli and Mrs. Zalpha Ayoubi, RESCUE project coordinators at the Lebanese University and coordinators at the International Relations Office, in addition to a number of LU deans, directors, staff and students.