The Information Resources Center at the Lebanese University organized a workshop on the “Student Affairs Mechanization Central System – Banner” at the Doctoral School of Law, Political, Administrative and Economic Sciences - Sin El Fil.

The workshop was attended by the President of the Lebanese University, Professor Fouad Ayoub, Faculty Deans, Branch Directors, and a number of administrators and employees.

In his welcome speech, the Head of the Student Affairs Mechanization System, Hady Najm, pointed out that the “Banner System” has established a new working methodology that has developed over time as a result of the transition from an annual to a semester system. However, this paradigm shift has not been accompanied by an update of existing laws and regulations to update the new working methodology and put in place the right frameworks to avoid conflicts of power. Consequently, it became necessary to launch an intensive workshop to update these laws and regulations on the basis of field experiences and the expertise of those involved in this system implementation, as this mechanism ensures sound organizational decisions that protect the interest of the Lebanese University.

After that, Dr. Mustafa Al-Sarji, Executive IT Coordinator, discussed the tasks of the Information Resources Center, which are:

·         Managing the IT and automation affairs and their applications within the Central Administration and all Faculties.

·         Developing a global vision to improve the use of ICT and its applications at the university.

·         Preparing technical terms and conditions for all university agreements in the ICT fields and oversee their implementation.

·         Organizing training courses in the ICT fields.

Besides, he stressed the importance of unifying all faculties and branches through the Banner system, in order to preserve and store academic information (students, employees and professors) in a secure and consistent place in several locations.

Then, the Informatics Development Coordinator, Dr. Gilbert Saouma, explained the main reasons for launching this workshop, which face difficulties in terms of administrative and academic work, lack of centralization in the database and mechanization, application of administrative work by traditional methods, in addition to the material deficit and waste resulting from the use of manual administrative routine.

Professor Fouad Ayoub, welcomed the holding of this workshop to discuss the current reality of mechanization and planning within the framework of a clear strategy in the administrative and academic departments of the Lebanese University.

Professor Ayoub stressed that the achievement of any objective requires talking about common challenges and difficulties and listening to the advice of specialists from the university, hoping that this workshop will follow up on other activities, including training courses on sustainable development not only in administrative work, but also in academic work.

Professor Ayoub insisted on the fact that the purpose of laws and regulations is to preserve the interest of the university in the first place. However, we shall modify them in order to facilitate administrative and academic processes.

The first session was opened with live testimonials from a group of employees from different faculties who shared their experiences and expertise, and how the Banner System has made administrative matters easier for them.

Then, a documentary film prepared by Ms. Remy Abdel Rassoul was shown. The film included video excerpts from a number of directors, department heads and employees from several faculties, in which they talked about the radical change that has occurred in their administrative work thanks to the Banner System.

Also, the session dealt with the current reality of the Banner System, the common challenges and difficulties, the strengths and areas for continuous improvement, in addition to the sustainability workshops.

The second session dealt with the structure of the working team at the Lebanese University, the job description of specialized employees and the employment incentives, the results of a questionnaire and the opinions of the specialized users.

Subsequently, participants raised recommendations and proposals, including the approval of job descriptions of the Department of Student Affairs, the identification of employment incentives, the necessity to accelerate and continue the infrastructure development workshop, the establishment of periodic regional and central workshops, and the activation of the Higher Committee for Curricula role and others.