Powered by Hospitality News Middle East and funded by the USAID Lebanon Enterprise development (LED) project, Hospitality News Talks held its third virtual roundtable on February 25 — “Hospitality Education in Lebanon in 2021 and Beyond.” The online session, moderated by Hodema Consulting Services, invited a panel of academics to discuss the latest developments in hospitality education and how their respective institutions have been responding to the pressures of Covid-19 as well as challenges specific to Lebanon: currency devaluation, political uncertainty, etc.⁠

Dr. Celine Saab, Director of IGE, spoke about how Lebanon is still considered a hub that fosters top talent with tops skills like adaptability, sociability, and initiative – all necessary in the Hospitality sector, especially in the GCC region. She equally highlighted how despite the flailing infrastructure that Lebanon has, IGE has been able to increase the quality of online courses through partnering with international bodies and professors to deliver new and innovative curriculums, where professors and experts from all over the world share their knowledge and experience with students.

Such examples are our partnership with alliance by Institut Paul Bocuse that is giving our students international exposure and access to workshops and events on the trends that are shaping the Hospitality and F&B industries. Another initiative is our exclusive partnership with Science of the Time (a Dutch initiative that has now become international), to provide an Innovation and Trends workshop to our students. This initiative has equally exposed them to peers from all over the world (Barcelona, The Hague, Brazil, Shanghai, etc.).