BEIRUT: It was graduation season at Lebanese University but most of the graduates, proudly sporting their caps and gowns, were not confident that their education would lead to a good job in the country.
Although pleased to be marching in her commencement ceremony, which was to take place within minutes, Maysaa Kiwan, a Lebanese University graduate, lamented the lack of job opportunities in the country.
“I tried my best to find a job after graduation. I tried to travel, but decided that it is better to stay here [in Lebanon] and to work in teaching,” said Kiwan, a biochemistry graduate.
“But I definitely have the ambition to get a better job. The salary I am being paid does not compensate for the efforts I made [to earn my degree],” she added.
Kiwan spoke to The Daily Star Sunday as she was getting ready to take part in the graduation ceremony of LU’s Faculty of Sciences, First Branch.
The graduation ceremony saw 639 students who earned their degrees in 2008, 2009, and 2010, was held at the university’s campus in Hadath.
But Sami Shqeir, also a biology graduate, was more confident that he would find employment in Lebanon.
“Right now I am pursuing graduate studies … I think that if I am determined to find a job in Lebanon, I will get employed,” Shqeir said, as he adjusted his cap and gown.
Shqeir did add that if he was unable to secure a job in the country, the only solution would be to leave Lebanon.
Diyaa Ibrahim spoke at the ceremony on behalf of the graduates, while Hisham Abdullah gave remarks on behalf of the faculty’s professors. Faculty director Ali Kanj, and Ali Mneimneh, the dean of the faculty who represented LU’s president Zuheir Shukr, also spoke.
Mneimneh explained that 16,000 students had enrolled at the campuses of the Faculty of Sciences during the academic year 2010-11.
“These campuses were opened starting in 2009, in application of the principle of balanced development,” Mneimneh said.
The campuses were opened in Akkar and Amsheet in the north, Tyre and Bint Jbeil in the south along with Iqlim al-Kharoub, added Mneimneh.
He noted that there was no facility with capacity to hold one graduation ceremony for the more than 4,000 students who graduated in 2008, 2009 and 2010 from the Faculty of Sciences.
For her part, Ibrahim said that a “tangible development” has been made by the LU in recent years “in terms of performance and diversity of fields,” touching on the opening of an institute for doctorate studies.
But Ibrahim said that Lebanon’s economic hardship was affecting all the students.
“How can we be distinguished in our studies when we are working and studying at the time?” Ibrahim asked, as she called for immediate action by the government.