For Immediate Release
Press Release
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Higher Education Capacity Development (HECD) program, implemented by the Education Development Center (EDC), held its annual higher education summit today, bringing together ten Lebanese partner universities. U.S. Embassy Beirut Deputy Chief of Mission Richard Michaels, Acting USAID/Lebanon Mission Director Amy McQuade, and university representatives attended the event.
The summit was an opportunity to highlight the impact of HECD’s institutional capacity development program, which focuses on job readiness skills, career center enhancements, university-employer engagement, work-based learning, entrepreneurship, and design thinking.
In his remarks, Deputy Chief of Mission Richard Michaels said, “Through HECD, the U.S. government has strengthened the role of higher education institutions to contribute to Lebanon’s long-term prosperity. We’ve worked closely with our partner universities to provide in-demand job readiness, work-based learning, soft skills programs, and career orientation services.”
The five-year, $13 million HECD program provided over 964 higher education administrators and instructors with high quality professional development and institutional capacity building to prepare their graduates to successfully enter local and international labor markets. More than 6,400 students from ten university partners have so far benefited from HECD job readiness courses and workshops.