StEER-Leb Project

Student Empowerment, Engagement and Representation in Lebanese Universities
Co funded by Erasmus+ programme of the European Union
Coordinated at USJ by the Student Life Department

Project Duration

36 months

Project Coordinator

Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Lebanon

Partners

University Saint-Joseph of Beirut, Lebanon
Lebanese American University, Lebanon
University of Rouen, France
University of Cadiz, Spain
University of Bologna, Italy
UNIMED, Italy
Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Lebanon

Description

In Lebanon, student representation is, in most cases, based on traditional political divisions, themselves based on regional politics and influences. Students usually identify themselves as belonging to a certain political family, a choice depending mainly on deeply-rooted family habits and traditional affiliations. This situation therefore ignites frequent confrontations between groups of students during student elections and in-between. In some universities, student bodies and representation have consequently been suppressed, in order to avoid such problems and to remain politically neutral. As a consequence, students are provided with rare, or nonexistent, opportunities to organize events, launch clubs and take responsibilities in their lives on campus and in their communities.

The StEER-Leb project therefore aims at the empowerment of Lebanese students and the creation of politically-neutral and democratic student representation bodies in the project’s partner universities, as well as their engagement in their campus and social lives, with the support of European Universities. Within the frame of this project, European and Lebanese universities will exchange their experiences and share good practices in order to enhance such empowerment, engagement and representation of students in Lebanese universities.

Activities

2018:

A Needs Analysis and Situation Assessment survey WAS drafted by the partner institutions and disseminated among all Lebanese partners in order to have a clearer idea of the current situation of Student Empowerment, Engagement and Representation (StEER) at the national-level and to identify the knowledge, needs and expectations of the academic communities (students, professors, employees and governance).
Results of the Survey are available on the Steer-Leb website: http://www.steer-leb.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/SANA-Cover-fusionn%C3%A9.pdf

 

February – May 2019:

Three visits were organized by the universities of the consortium in the universities of the Programme countries. Two types of activities took place during these visits: shadowing sessions and meetings for the exchange of good practices. The shadowing visits aim at visiting the infrastructures in place at the concerned European universities and their functioning. During these visits, each partner university introduced one or more good practice to other universities.
Good practices deduced from each shadowing visits are available through the following link: http://www.steer-leb.eu/good-practice/

 

September 2019:

USJ hosted the first of three capacity-building activities in the aim of implementing new or developing existing Steer structures by training students and staff members on the different topics deduced from Needs Analysis and Situation Assessment. This activity was open for all Lebanese universities and hosted 80 participants from nine different institutions (staff and students). The program included eight workshops and one team building activity.
The curriculum and content of the capacity-building activities for students resulted in the development of a training manual available on the following link: http://www.steer-leb.eu/training-manuals/

March 2020:

The second capacity building activity was organized at University of Rouen in collaboration with USJ and Unimed, were student and staff members of the consortium participated in interactive sessions to achieve the goal of this work package. A training manual was also issued from this activity and is available on the link above.

January 2021:

The last capacity building activity was held online, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and it was open to all Lebanese universities. The theme of this particular activity was” Student engagement in times of crises” were each university highlighted the shift to online learning during the pandemic and Lebanese partners highlighted their response to the different crisis that Lebanon is going through.

The training manual of this activity is available on the link above.

 

May 2021:

New students and staff members were recruited to join the Steer-Leb structures at the different universities. They will organize meetings and work sessions in cooperation with the trained professors and staff in order to set all dimensions of these structures: priorities, levels of representation and involvement, scope of responsibilities, the designation/voting schemes, programs, calendar of activities, partnerships with stakeholders etc.
The Student Affairs Offices/Services whose staff was trained in the capacity building activities will work on updating their missions and action plans. They will also be mentored and supported by students from the EU partner institutions through a Training of Trainers for staff and students to be organized in August 2021.
At the national-level, a national student representation structure will be established at the end of the project to address the needs and expectations of the majority of Lebanese students. Higher Education Institutions from all over Lebanon can join this structure.

Students of Steer-Leb

Many students have written about their experience with the Steer-Leb project, the different skills they acquired and the important exchanges with other students and staff members.

You can check the student of Steer-Leb section via the following link: http://www.steer-leb.eu/studentsofsteerleb/

To stay in touch about the different activities of the Steer-Leb project you can visit the Steer website and know all about the different news and updates: http://www.steer-leb.eu/

Steer-Leb page on facebook :https://www.facebook.com/steerlebproject/

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