Al Maaref University

Al Maaref University

Arabic: جامعة المعارف
Motto	Crystallizing Life by Means of Science and Knowledge
Type	Private
Established	22 December 2011
Endowment	n/a
President	Dr. Mohsen Saleh (Founder); Dr. Ali Alaeddine (New President)
Students	250 (intake expected for first year of operation October 2015)
Location	off Airport Avenue - Beirut Lebanon
Campus	Suburban
Affiliations	MEHE, IALE
Website	www.mu.edu.lb

Al Maaref University, or MU, is a not-for-profit private university in Lebanon. The decree of establishment (N.7265) was given bny^[1] the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) on 22 December 2011.

Al-Maaref University is accounted to date the 33rd university that is officially recognized by the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE).^[2]

It is a subsidiary organization of the Islamic Association of Learning and Education (IALE) that has been operating since 1995.

History

The first published university prospectus was dated July 2015...^[3]

The university is guided by Article 10 of the Lebanese Constitution,^[4] the Educational Reforms^[5] as initiated by the National Reconciliation Accord (Taef Agreement), and the international conventions for economic, social and cultural rights.

Despite acquiring permission to establish the university in 2011, it only came to fruition in January 2015. The university set-up a main campus off the Airport Avenue in preparation to get the approval for starting its academic operations and courses delivery from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education by the second week of October 2015.

The initial plans of Al-Maaref University consisted of establishing a faculty of engineering and two faculties in social sciences. However, the engineering faculty was postponed after consultation with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education. The alternative option for the third faculty was settled on Religions and Humanities. As well, the place of operation changed from Haret Al-Hureik to Be’er Hassan area, off Airport Avenue in Beirut.

Organization

Al-Ma’aref University has an organizational structure that is faculty based.^[6]

The university has three faculties headed by Deans, led by a University President and guided by a Board of Trustees^[7] of 12 notable members of the Lebanese society.

Academics

The faculties are:

• Business Administration (BA),
• Mass Communication and Fine Arts (MCFA),
• Religions and Humanities (RH) including Translation and Languages department.^[8]
  • Engineering (approved by technical committees from the Ministry of Education & Higher Education, & waiting for the Cabinet of Lebanese Ministers for official approval)
  • Sciences (approved by technical committees from the Ministry of Education & Higher Education, & waiting for the Cabinet of Lebanese Ministers for official approval)

Each faculty has departments running majors in different disciplines. The total number of majors leading to a recognized Bachelor degree is 18. The university has plans to expand the majors offered to students in the second and third year of its operations.

The Faculty of Business Administration runs eight majors in the following areas:

• Accounting
• Banking and Finance
• Economics
• Human Resources Management
• Management
• International Business
• Marketing
• Information Technology and Management Systems

The Faculty of Mass Communication and Fine Arts offers four majors in the following areas:

• Media Studies
• Journalism and Digital Media
• Advertising and Public Relations
• Radio and Television

The Faculty of Religions and Human Sciences offers the following majors:

• Comparative Religions
• Quranic Studies and Prophetic Hadith
• History and Comparative Civilizations
• Islamic Studies
• Philosophy and Theology
• Language and Translations (English, French, Arabic, Farsi, Spanish,, )

Market

Based on statistics conducted by the Centre of Administration of Statistics^[9] and more recent by Bankmed,^[10] 40% of students population that amount to 192,522 are enrolled in the Lebanese University, a major public university that has presence in major cities across the Lebanese territories. Around 48% of the rest of the students are enrolled in private universities.^[11] Al-Maaref University is expected to attract students from both types of market; the public and private sectors. The primary market target of the Al-Maaref University is the young generation who finished their 12 years of schooling with particular emphasis on those underprivileged sectors of society who are striving to afford entering the higher education. Financial aid is available to students.

Campus and facilities

The main university campus is located off Beirut Airport Avenue in Lebanon with a prospect of expansion to three more campuses in three major cities (Beqaa Valley, Nabatieh and Tyre) in two years.

The Beirut Campus is at the heart of a number of further and higher educational establishments. It is next to Greenfield College (Al-Murouge)^[12] and Al-Rawdah High School^[13] as well as near the MUC Matn University College of Technology (MUC), University of Sciences and Arts in Lebanon (USAL), Lebanese University (LU) at Al-Hadath , University of Saint Joseph (USJ), American University of Culture and Education (AUCE), and Arab Open University (AOU). Al-Maaref University is located in an area that has access to a range of sports facilities and amenities. The university locale is surrounded by Lebanese and international restaurants, and shopping malls with easy reach to four hospitals and health centres. As well, the 'Downtown' in Beirut is 15 minutes driving whilst the airport is five minutes away from the university.

References

External links

• Official website
• Ministry of Education and Higher Education
• Council of Ministers