BEIRUT: Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour called on President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Najib Mikati Sunday to devote a Cabinet session to discuss issues that hinder the development of the Lebanese University.

Abu Faour made the comments during a seminar at the faculty of business at a LU branch in Rashaya in Western Bekaa, which was also attended by the head of LU Adnan Sayyed Hussein.

Hussein expressed surprise that there had been “ongoing problems in the education sector since the 1970s, at a time when countries such as France considered public education a priority.”

He stressed the need for appointing new deans and council members, noting that 640 professors retired in the past few years with no replacement hired.

Abu Faour said “despite that [fact that] LU’s problems have been ignored, it is still one of the most respectable universities in the country, and I call on the Cabinet to hold a session to discuss the situation of the LU and take appropriate decisions.”