The goal is to end poverty in all its forms everywhere. Poverty is simple and complex. It is simple because it provides the income needed to meet basic needs, yet the hard part of it is trying to meet those basic needs. Goal No. 1 (SDG1) calls for ending poverty in all its manifestations by 2030. It also aims to ensure social protection for the poor and vulnerable, increase access to basic services and support people affected by climate phenomena and other economic, social and environmental conditions. This includes targeting the most vulnerable, increasing basic resources and services, and supporting communities affected by conflict and climate-related disasters. The positive side is that absolute poverty will be less pronounced in the developing world by 2030, although more than one billion people will still live on less than two dollars a day. Therefore, the year 2030 will not represent the end of poverty by any reasonable measure, but we will strive with all our capabilities to alleviate poverty, according to the World Bank, it will certainly be possible by 2050 to end this absolute poverty in most of the developing world.

The Islamic University in Lebanon (IUL), which is a non-profit institution, seeks to contribute to the realization of the contents of the thesis carried by the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council in Lebanon regarding national integration and integration between the sectarian and sectarian components of the Lebanese civil society in a single political community that establishes one just state for free and equal citizens. Therefore, IUL is committed for making the faith and sciences a source of awareness of the homeland, the citizen, the state and society.

IUL aims to provide higher education to all Lebanese and non-Lebanese students without distinction between race, nationality, religion or sect, and in a spirit of faith open to all human civilizations.

A scholarship system at the Islamic University in Lebanon was set up in order to help the poorest students according well-known criteria; and a special office is created to follow up the scholarship. The scholarships offered by the university to the poorest students are inclusive of free transportation from their place of residence to the university and vice versa, in addition to the housing fare in case the student has to rent a residence near the university. Also IUL offers financial grants to the children of orphans who do not have a breadwinner, and to the children of martyrs who do not Adopted by any guarantor.

In addition, IUL organizes and hosts always many activities in religious events to gather all students from all sects and social levels, in order to create a positive atmosphere and social bonds between students. These activities include Iftar in Ramadan, blood donation campaign, in cooperation with the Lebanese Red Cross, books distribution.…etc.

The scholarships offered by the university to the poorest students include free transportation from their place of residence to the university and vice versa, in addition to the housing fare in case the student has to rent a residence near the university. In addition to holding many activities at religious events organized by the Movement of the Deprived, to bring together all students from all sects and social levels, in order to contribute to creating a positive atmosphere that contributes to creating social ties between students.

The Islamic University in Lebanon expressed its desire to provide scholarships for outstanding students from the brotherly Republic of Iraq, which has embraced them for many years and considers them dear children who enjoy distinguished academic care and administrative and social follow-up throughout their studies and residence in their second home, Lebanon. Accordingly, the Ministry of Higher Education in brotherly Iraq has selected a group of distinguished students in the fields of engineering, administration and law to pursue studies at the Islamic University in Lebanon.

Also, Under the supervision of the Lebanese National Committee for UNESCO, the UNESCO Club was launched through its first project at the Islamic University of Lebanon – Tire Branch, under the title “Sawa”, which corresponds to the first goal of the sustainable development goals “the eradication of poverty”.

Each volunteer will provide the things, books, food and clothes that he does not want to be sorted and distributed to poor families, as their work will depend on collecting information about these families from the municipalities and activities of the region.

Under the slogan “With your own blood, life beats”. The Amal Movement – Division of the Islamic University – Wardanieh Complex, in cooperation with the Lebanese Red Cross, set up a blood donation campaign, which witnessed a great participation of students with enthusiasm and love in an atmosphere filled with intimacy, cooperation and the spirit of humanity.

The Islamic University of Lebanon also offers, through the College of Health Sciences, a free open day in which it welcomes all students and the people of the region to conduct medical examinations, especially diabetes and blood pressure checks, in addition to nutritional health advice by specialized doctors. The day also includes a series of seminars on contemporary diseases and how to strengthen the immune system to face them.

In the outer courtyard of the university, made various examinations that the nursing students at the university conducted under the supervision of their professors, and included: eye examination,

The Islamic University of Lebanon – Baalbek branch, conducted a study on the means of transportation approved by the students with the aim of helping them to secure common transportation between them. All students, without exception and whatever the approved mode of transportation, should have reviewed the Student Affairs Office to fill out the form.

The Islamic University in Lebanon has concluded several agreements to improve the level of students and enable them to enter the labor market, and these agreements include:

In 2020, an agreement was signed with the British Language Institute regarding students of the English language, and with the French Center for Languages with regard to students of the French language. This is in order to qualify the student and acquire a foreign language so that he can enter the labor market. These institutes accompany students under the supervision of specialists before them and under the supervision of the Director of the Language Institute at the Islamic University in Lebanon.

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education announced that it received nomination applications for scholarships for all university levels for the 2019/2020 academic year in all majors as part of the joint scholarship program between UNESCO and the People’s Republic of China.

In the announcement, the Ministry indicated that those wishing to benefit from these grants must review the conditions and required documents.

The Department of Student Affairs of the Islamic University provides information about these scholarships and supports students in any need.

Agriculture has always been the main pillar in fighting hunger and in the rise and evolution of countries over the years. It is not limited to produce various crops but it intersects with important issues of our time such as food security, sustainable development, famine, poverty and the spread of diseases and epidemics.

It is important to mention that agriculture is greatly influenced by climate change. Many third world countries still suffer from famine and hunger which is related to many reasons amongst which are the poor planning, lack of strategy and inability to cope with the climate changes not to mention other reasons which are political as well as corruption related.

Nobody should go hungry in this world. The public sectors in many countries need to better utilize their resources and best allocate it in order to improve efficiently and effectively the agricultural process and its related irrigation systems. In countries such as Sudan, there is an over abundancy of water there as evidenced by the Niles river. But, hundreds of thousands of Sudanese go hungry on a yearly basis which is mostly due to political problems and corruption issues that are have been and still are plaguing this great country which was once nick named the bread basket of the Arab world.

The agricultural sector in Lebanon faces many challenges and obstacles due to external and internal governmental policies, pollution, water scarcity, water change and lack of water dams and equitable distribution of water resources. Therefore, it is necessary to spread awareness among the Lebanese citizens-especially farmers and university students- so that they are better equipped to face these challenges and find the necessary solutions. This can be accomplished, on one hand, by holding seminars and workshops at the university which aim is to contribute to collective awareness to maximize the benefits of the farmers and citizens from the agricultural and water wealth.  On the other hand, courses and curricula are adopted in most of the university’s faculties to contribute to spreading awareness among students and have them acquire technical and legal knowledge on this matter. Moreover, the Islamic University of Lebanon (IUL) signed numerous cooperation and exchange agreements with both governmental and non-governmental organizations in order to support Lebanese agriculture.

The Islamic University in Lebanon has always been interested in food security issues and it always strives to improve its contribution to the agricultural sector, thus helping to face the obstacles and challenges and to create sustainable solutions.

To this end, the Islamic University in Lebanon, represented by its President Prof. Dr. Dina Al Maoula signed a memorandum of understanding and joint cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture. The aim is to work together in various fields such as vocational training and scientific research, joint activities for the public interest and seminars and workshops addressed to students.

The university has also been preparing its students to compete at an international level through their participation in the Hult Price: a competition in which students from different parts of the world compete in teams to create innovative social projects and institutions aiming to address a specific social challenge. The Islamic University students have submitted the “Food for Less” project, which seeks to insure food safety for marginalized people and families in poor Lebanese regions by collecting food and restaurants’ leftovers, dividing it into rations and selling it to poor families for one dollar.

Whereas the Lebanese National Committee for UNESCO is interested in inviting universities to establish UNESCO clubs that aim to spread the principles and values ​​of UNESCO, promote education and citizenship, and organize projects and activities that serve the community in line with sustainable development goals and youth priorities; The UNESCO Club was established at the Islamic University of Lebanon in 2019, which included 16 students from the following majors (science, arts, translation, engineering and business administration) to form the core and foundation of this club in addition to 150 volunteers.

The UNESCO Club has undertaken two projects:

• The first project, “Sawa”, targeted the poor class in the Tire region and its environs, by helping poor families and supplying them with clothes, food and books.

• The second project consists of collecting and sorting plastic bottle caps to contribute to providing support for people with special needs from the poorest and “hungry” families.

Also in the context of supporting food security and working towards achieving it, students from the Faculty of Engineering also submitted projects to the Minister of Agriculture. One of the projects aims at studying the most appropriate geographical area for the cultivation of 16 types of fruit trees in Southern Lebanon; as well as reducing the impact of human error in the use of natural resources from agriculture. Another project is divided into two parts: the first part is related to the use of artificial intelligence and modern technologies to help farmers irrigate and monitor their crops in the best way and with the least amount of water, while the second part covers the monitoring of vegetation and depends on drones and methods of image processing and analysis.

In this sense, food waste on campus is the most important issue that the Islamic University of Lebanon seeks to work on in order to fully implement the second goal of the sustainable development goals. In this context, the university is trying to adopt green policies in the cafeteria to reduce food waste, which reaches 543 thousand kg per academic year (80 kg per person), noting that the total number of employees, professors and students is about 6791. Among these policies is that the cafeteria stops providing a large tray on which the student puts his food, so it obligates him to choose a smaller amount of food that he carries with his hands and eats it whole instead of filling the tray with an amount of food that he cannot eat all of it. The cafeteria also tends to display food and drinks – which were served canned in plastic or tinned in specific quantities that are often in excess – (cheeses, milk and juices) in large containers and glass bottles in a cooled corner of the cafeteria in order to encourage the student to pour the quantity that suffices him and to reduce food waste.

These policies are included in the university’s comprehensive strategy to eradicate hunger within the university (that is, among students and workers) and work to ensure food security.

The university is keen to provide food security for its students inside and outside the campus, so it provides balanced meals for these students during the holy month of Ramadan and on other religious occasions.

The University also seeks to address the problems arising from the water crisis in Lebanon through seminars and conferences which goal is to help farmers, especially small ones, to meet the needs of their agricultural lands in order to support local production and the national economy.

One of the seminars organized by the University in this context was entitled “The Water Crisis in the Beqaa; it was held in cooperation with the Beqaa Water Foundation and the Italian Civil Voluntary Work Association, which is a non-governmental organization. The seminar covered the ways to benefit from water at the national level in order to achieve good water management and its equitable distribution among farmers in various Lebanese regions.

Good health about the body as well as about the mind is essential to us. Staying in good health is important to all of us, and can become particularly important in the future. 

Special care must be taken by all the active bodies to ensure good health. Among the noble goals that the Islamic university of Lebanon (IUL) aspired to was the improvement of health and wellbeing outcomes. To achieve this vision, IUL set out many collaborative plans to establish its position within the framework of health community service. Namely, the mission was carried by the applied departments in the Faculty of Health including nursing, physical therapy, speech therapy and medical laboratory. In specific, nursing department aims to graduate qualified health professionals with scientific competencies and high work skills, in order to meet the needs of the labor market in Lebanon and the world.

Faculty collaborative community Accordingly, IUL constantly cooperates with the Lebanese Nurses Syndicate. This cooperation is evident to increase the number of graduates to meet the needs of the labor market, and to achieve excellence in practicing the profession of nursing in application, education, administration and research. Hoping to strengthen the health of the individual and society in Lebanon and its surroundings that needs an increase in the number of nurses by 8% annually according to WHO. This yearly escalating need for nurses has made the university visits schools and holds exhibitions to stimulate, high school students, to register at the Nursing and Health Sciences Faculty. Moreover, the university has signed agreements with hospitals in the region in order to encourage employees who hold professional degrees to pursue their studies and obtain university degrees within practical and material facilities and financial discounts of 50%. Furthermore, Nursing and Health Sciences Faculty organizes many health activities including the Health Day on May 12 of every year on the occasion of International Nursing Day. On this occasion, free health services are provided aiming at early detection of some chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and thalassemia by conducting free examinations, in addition to spreading health awareness through lectures and publications.

Moreover, Nursing and Health Sciences Faculty has signed numerous agreements in collaboration with local and national health institutions within the framework of scientific and practical cooperation. These institutions are considered to be the training centers for IUL students. Within the framework of cooperation with the Lebanese Nurses Syndicate and for the sake of serving the individual and society, IUL nursing students participate in the Council of Representatives of the Nursing Students Association. The representatives hold regular meetings to discuss their scientific and practical needs. They also participate in the union’s activities that aim to spread health awareness and provide health services.

At the level of the Arab world, Nursing and Health Sciences Faculty participates in the Council of the Arab Union of Nursing Faculties and sharing its scientific activities, in particular, IUL represents Lebanon in the Scientific Association. In the context of promoting scientific research in the field of health and nursing sciences, Nursing and Health Sciences Faculty participates in the periodic seminars organized by “Chaire recherche sciences infirmières- Laboratoire Education et pratiques en santé – Université paris Nord” The faculty participates in presenting its scientific research through the seminar in the presence of its francophone students.

Education is critical for development. Education is by all means a human right: it is the right of each and every human being on earth to have access to quality education. It is the obligation of both businesses as well as the public sector to join effort in order to facilitate the accessibility to education to both genders. Education is an investment and as such businesses need to provide enough funding for education on all fronts in order to share in the development of their surroundings and communities which will eventually reflect positively on these businesses in the form of more profits. Religions, including Islam, are big advocated of promoting education to all and having it easily accessible. In the holy Quran there are verses that talk about the importance of education in creating knowledge and that people that are educated could not be equated to those that are not. As such, the countries under the United Nations umbrella have gotten together to address the problems in education that many countries around the world suffer from. Many children in third world countries are deprived of this right due to many reasons amongst which is poverty, lack of local government responsibility and cultural issues. Females in many countries are completely prohibited from going to schools where they even lack the very basics of education. This is completely devastating to the overall society where these females get married at a very young age and contribute to the vicious circle of contributing to the increase of ignorance as they are unable to teach or educate their children or teach them at home. In addition, these females do not actually value education themselves as they never experienced it. The lack of mandatory basic education is one of the curses of the lesser developed countries. It is one of the major reasons behind their underdevelopment and will be the case for many more years to come if nothing is done to abort it.

Education utilizing the latest technologies and directed towards what is required out there in the job market is a critical ingredient to prosperity and economic development. The developed countries universities contribute greatly in the form of research to the development and progress of the whole world.

Education is a critical condition for communities to tend towards sustainable development. The fourth goal stated clearly “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. In this context, Malcolm X has once said: “The future belongs for those who prepare for it today”. Actually, quality education is the key to a successful future at the individual level and sustainable development at the community or international level.

The Islamic University of Lebanon (IUL), as a non-profit institution, believes that quality education is one of the humans’ rights. Furthermore, its mission is to provide people with quality education which is accessible to everyone. IUL vision, actions and policies tend to achieve this goal.

The IUL believes that education is a lifelong activity and everyone should be able to access educational resources throughout his life.

The university utterly believes that education should be accessible to everyone regardless of their religious beliefs, gender, sect, sexual orientation and national origin.

The Islamic University of Lebanon has adopted the strategy that aims at providing access to educational resources for almost everyone, starting from its national community (the Lebanese people) until everyone in the world and it provides access to educational resources for all the community of IUL as well as those who are not studying or working at it. Also, the university ensures a wide range of services such as research services via the online catalogue, books’ circulation, training sessions, daily newspapers and periodicals, free Wi-Fi services, photocopying and printing, etc. 

In order to increase the number of people who profits from its services, IUL has created in 2017 a digital library with open free access for everyone. In this context, the digital library at the IUL is one of the most important libraries in the Middle East.

One of the general strategies of Islamic university of Lebanon (IUL) is to provide access to educational resources for all people in the country. The IUL central library is one of the important units that provide this type of access to public and especially those not studying at the university for the purpose of best quality education.

In addition of IUL Central Library, IUL also open in 2017 a digital library with open free access for all people. The IUL digital library is one of the important digital libraries in Middle East.

IUL also conducts conferences, diplomas, lectures that are open to the public, among them are:

In 2017, the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at the Islamic University of Lebanon organized a symposium entitled: Launching a Green Economy in Lebanon. The symposium was sponsored by the Lebanese Ministry of Economy and was attended by the Director General of the Ministry of Economy, Professor Alia Abbas, the President of the Islamic University, deans of faculties, heads of scientific departments, professors, interested people from the Faculty of Information and Agriculture at the Lebanese University, and a group of students in the Islamic and Lebanese universities.

In 2018, the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at the Islamic University of Lebanon held a symposium under the title: Emerging Business Opportunities in Light of Technological Changes, under the auspices of the President of the Digital Transformation Network in Lebanon and the President of the Association of Professional Informatics Professor Rabie Baalbaki.

In addition to the Ad hoc events, IUL hosts programmed event that is open to all the community: IUL Open Day.

 IUL organized every year an open day for all the school students. In general, more than 2000 people visit the university. The schools visit the university based on invitation letter sent by the university to each school (local, national and regional). During this open day, IUL staff and students explain for the students about all the different faculties and the different majors also. The students make also a round in the university to visit all the departments.

On this day, anyone has the right to visit the university to see all the university facilities and its departments and all faculties and laboratories.

Finally, IUL has established an office for university scholarships for people with limited income. These scholarships are given to everyone without any act of discrimination.

As we know that all around the world most women still suffer from the issue of gender inequality. Women still suffer from the lack of equal opportunities with men to where it becomes known universally that it is by all means a man’s world. Even the largest corporations in the world still have men as their chief executive officers predominantly. Gender inequality leads to many problems around the world in all aspects and it is a main reason behind the underdevelopment of many countries globally.

Gender inequality prevents women from pursuing opportunities that might be beneficial to the whole society; a loss to all. This is very misfortunate. Indeed, this inequality is governed by many factors among which are culture, traditions and religion.

The aim of the fifth goal is to empower women and girls in order to achieve gender equality. The achievement of this goal requires the abolishment of all forms of discrimination, abuse and unethical behavior against women.

The Islamic University of Lebanon aims at preparing women in their families and societies to become agents of change and to assume leadership roles at universities and in society. The IUL vision towards women is influenced by the Qur’anic Surahs, which emphasize the dignity and rights of women and grant them equal rights as men, in addition to the moral and humanitarian context behind this goal.

IUL is a university for the entire country, through its vision and establishment. IUL, irrespective of religious, sectarian or ethnic affiliation, does not discriminate between any of the components of the homeland. One of the pillars of the university’s mission and one of its most critical goals is equality between men and women. Actually, the current president of the university is a female; Professor Dina El Mawla.

Accordingly, anything relevant to the female aspect of the university is constantly and consistently controlled by the university administration, whether by the admission or application rate for students, the recruitment process or the commitment of the educational staff and body.

The Islamic University of Lebanon gives way to women in order to prove their capabilities and qualifications by allocating leadership and senior roles to them. The conclusive evidence of this policy’s application is that a female president (Prof. Dina el Maoula) heads the IUL. Moreover, women also play important roles as decision-makers. They are deans of the faculty, heads of departments, coordinators of courses and supervisors of internships.

At IUL, the recruitment policy is based on the qualifications, education, experience and convenience of the position or course, subject to the involvement of women in all faculties and departments.

The payment policy at IUL aims at reducing gender gaps between men and women where all genders’ employees are paid equally for work of equal importance and have the same rights. Furthermore, for a pregnant full-time female teacher, there are special policies that reduce her workload. Moreover, IUL supports and encourages female students, staff and instructors to push their studies and conduct research under the IUL’s sponsorship, and through agreements between the IUL and international universities. Also, the university encourages female students to participate in conferences by covering all the required fees.

Under the leadership of Prof. Al Maoula, IUL received the French institutional accreditation “High Council for the Assessment of Science and Higher Education” (HCERES) for five years without any requirements or restrictions. Moreover, the French government awarded Prof Al Maoula the Academic “Palme d’Or”. Moreover, Prof. Al Maoula was appointed as president of the Association of Francophone Arab Universities in the Middle East to the 10th CONFREMO General Assembly. She also took over the presidency of the 51st session of the executive office of the Association of Arab Universities.

Female students are encouraged to apply for majors where women are underrepresented such as engineering. The IUL encourages also the involvement of female students in national and international activities and training sessions.

In the domain of sports, IUL supports and sponsors sports teams for female students. The results of this policy are the formation of several teams such as basketball team, Ping-Pong team, and shooting team and the accomplishments of teams and students.

Moreover, application forms at IUL don’t require applicants to mention the transgender issue, whether for work or study, as the IUL believes it is a private and personal matter in which it does not intervene and does not have any impact on the application. Also, female employees and teachers are given 40-day maternity paid leave and financial assistance.

At the social level, all IUL employees profit from financial assistance through several forms: covering children’s school tuitions, free registration at IUL, covering fees at another university if the desired major is not available at IUL, and health insurance. In addition, and according to IUL’s policy, women have the right to notify the administration if they were discriminated against. In this case, strict measures are applied to ensure gender equality.

The University has developed the ‘Regulations for the Implementation of Gender Equality Policies in Education at the Islamic University of Lebanon.’ The Regulation specifies that: The University should not demonstrate unequal treatment on the basis of gender or sexual preference during the hiring of employees, the recruitment of students and the conditions for admission (new policies file to be approved by the president).

Under Prof. Maoula’s leadership as a female and as a result of her insisting, the IUL obtained the French institutional accreditation “High Council for Evaluation of Research and Higher Education” (HCERES) for 5 years without any condition or restriction. This accreditation gives an added value for the graduation certificate of the IUL female students’. Moreover, it has also reflected positively on encouraging the students’ enrollment. The president in the Press conference through which she declared that IUL has obtained the HCERES for 5 years without any condition or restriction.

Moreover, under the guidance and efforts of the female president, the IUL ranked for the first time among the top 25 in the QS University Rankings: Arab Region for 160 Arab universities, where it was ranked between 51-60 in the world.

Under the spot of empowering females, the IUL instructors are directed for the participation in seminars related directly to empowering women. One example is “Girls Got IT” which is a joint initiative bringing together five active Lebanese NGOs: The Lebanese League for Women in Business (LLWB), Arab Women in Computing (ArabWIC), Women in Technology (WIT), Women in Engineering (WIE) and Digital Opportunity trust (DOT) together. Girls Got IT is held under the sponsorship of the UNICEF and GIL (Generation of Innovative Leaders). “Girls Got IT” aims to break the cultural stereotypes that surround women in STEAM subjects by exposing young females to essential technology skills, allowing them to meet inspiring role models and learn more about the various success stories from their country and the world.

Female instructors attend seminars for support female researches as a seminar entitled “Les ELLES de la Recherche” organized by the National Observatory for the leadership and Empowerment of Women in Research (Dawrek’n). Dawrek’n is funded by UNESCO Participation Program for 2018-2019, it aims to support Lebanese female researchers in their efforts towards empowerment in the scientific environment, and this in all disciplines of research and innovation (basic sciences and engineering, medical sciences, environmental sciences and agriculture, human and social sciences …). IUL females also conduct keynotes and present women supportive visons in other seminars organized by (Dawrek’n) as in “Dardacha Talks” and other events that are related to women in research. “Dardacha Talks” is a new format for research storytelling with a Lebanese twist and during which Lebanese female scientists from all disciplines and universities will take the challenge to popularize their research.

In addition to its plan or empowering women in the society, the IUL empowerment policy is also dedicated to empower the female students. This starts for the mentoring of the school female students at the IUL open day. This open day is organized every year by IUL for all the school students during which these students get introduced to the university. The IUL staff and students provide mentoring by giving overview about the different faculties and the different majors in these faculties and their job opportunities.

Moreover, the female students are oriented and encouraged to apply for majors where females are underrepresented as for engineering major or other majors where the job opportunities are better for them as for nursing and others.  This orientation is also carried on for the candidate students during their registration process.

A clean and constant supply of drinking water is essential to every community. People in large cities frequently drink water that comes from surface water sources such as lakes, rivers and reservoirs. Water and sanitation is one of the primary drivers of public health. Worldwide, millions die every year from diseases attributed to unsafe water supply.

In our university IUL, and when designing the Execution plans for the university campus in Wardanieh, the geographical and environmental elements surrounding the project site were taken into consideration. The buildings were concentrated in a way that is compatible with the local construction law and the project was equipped with four separate networks to serve the project as follows:

• An internal network of drinking water that is distributed to all buildings
• A network to collect rainwater from the roofs of buildings
• A rainwater collection network from roads and ground spaces
• A network for Waste water and a treatment station (septic tank)

Drinking water

The university buildings are located in an area known for the scarcity of drinking water sources and its source is the water company affiliated with the Ministry of Energy and Water. Accordingly, a special network has been developed that starts from the main line and is distributed over the upper tanks in each building. In addition, all floors are provided with distribution points for drinking water continuously to serve students and university staff.

The total value of the quantity of water used in the Wardanieh campus is estimated at about 4888 m3, distributed between the water use, and its value is estimated at about 3488 m3, of which 2907 m3 originate from rain water and 581 m3 from the wells in the campus. The irrigation water is about 1400 m3.

The university relies at a rate of 20% of the estimated water expenditure, which is equivalent to 581 m3, on the water of the wells in the campus, which are treated for use as drinking water for students and employees at a rate of 70%, equivalent to 407 m3, and the water of the company affiliated to the Ministry of Energy and Water at a rate of 30%, which is equivalent to 174 m3.

Since the first source is not sufficient to serve the university throughout the year, artesian wells have been developed to cover the shortage of drinking water, especially in the summer season, as the consumption rate for each student is at a rate of 15/20 liters per day and it has been verified that it is suitable for use with treatment at a rate of 1ppm using ultraviolet radiation.

SDG 7 aims at ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. To do so, the global rate of energy efficiency improvements should double and the percentage of renewables in the energy mix and should increase.

It is critical that the whole world should have access to clean energy and it should be affordable as well. All countries around the world have energy but it actually is not affordable by millions of people. This will indeed lead to problems in development and eventually to lower standards of living and more crime, poverty and extremism. It is the role of both the private sectors as represented by businesses and the public sectors to make sure that the economically deprived classes of people should have access to energy and at a price that is affordable to them. They should be charged differently on the energy consumption as compared to those that are more affluent.

More governmental programs should be initiated to provide people with the solar energy that is much needed as it is a clean one and affordable as well. This could be provided in cooperation with local financial companies that are willing to provide access to this clean energy with easy financing and lower interest rates.

Having access to clean sources of energy will make farming in poorer sectors of the world easier and more productive and as such farmers will make more money and they will enjoy a higher standard of living. Consequently, they will be able to expand their businesses and hire more people. Demand in the country will increase and eventually more businesses will be opened and the whole country will prosper and develop. Therefore, we see that as energy becomes cleaner and more affordable, the whole world will develop further and become more peaceful. In addition, the gap between the “haves” and the “have nots” will become smaller and smaller.

The Islamic University of Lebanon (IUL) in its mission seeks to contribute to the development of society, it has taken into consideration the reduction of energy consumption and the integration of renewable energy.

To do so, the IUL is working on several levels as follows:

1. The reduction of energy consumption at all IUL campuses.
2. The integration of clean and renewable energy.
3. The collaboration with the local community in supporting all initiatives that aim at developing new modes of energy consumption.
4. Supporting scientific research initiatives that help in creating and developing new ways and tools for sustainable energy consumption.

IUL has already adopted the criteria of Green Buildings in Lebanon issued by the Order of Engineers and Architects as an energy policy to be used as a reference for future expansion of university buildings, especially the sections related to Energy Efficiency. To illustrate, the main elements taken into consideration are building Envelope, energy efficiency, artificial lighting, and heat recovery. Actually, the university is putting a plan to change non-compliant equipment in existing buildings and to improve energy efficiency. IUL is looking to benefit from government policies in the domain of energy.

Actually, the university is putting a plan to change non-compliant equipment in existing buildings and to improve the energy efficiency. These improvements include, but are not limited to:

• Replacing old fluorescent tubes and Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) with light emitting diode (LED) technology.
• Finalizing a study to implement solar photovoltaic panels on an area up to 1000 square meters in Wardanieh campus to provide clean and affordable energy.
• Equipping common areas which are not regularly occupied with occupancy / Motion sensors. (study)
• Replacing current energy storage lead-acid batteries to lithium-ion batteries.
• Install smart meters at the level of each floor inside the buildings.

We have to mention here that some projects need foreign development aid on renewable energy. The university plans to benefit from official development assistance on electricity exchange with the EDL grid, by benefiting from related government policies.

IUL is committed to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by reducing the total electricity consumption, water, paper and fossil fuels. Regarding the electricity, the IUL plan is to provide affordable electricity to its facilities by relying totally on clean energy sources such as solar energy.

Furthermore, IUL has also adopted the Air Quality Protection Act issued by the Lebanese Parliament in order to reduce air pollution resulting from transportation and encouraging the employees to use fewer polluting fuels. It also ensures free transportation to students and ensures places in its parking for private buses. Also, the university is currently reviewing its energy consumption policy. As a result of this review, old buildings have been clearly categorized as agents of high energy consumption.

IUL is collaborating with the local community by helping them learn about the relevance of energy efficiency and clean energy technology through the participation in activities, seminars and workshops organized by the concerned associations and ministries. To illustrate, the staff members of IUL have participated in several events and workshops to promote the use of renewable energy.

IUL also provides direct services to local industry aimed at improving energy efficiency and clean energy (energy efficiency assessments, workshops, research renewable energy options). It has contributed to many collaborative projects with the Lebanese industry under the umbrella of LIRA projects (Lebanese Industrial Research Achievements). Some of these projects aimed to improve energy efficiency and clean energy. The IUL also gives the industrialists access to the labs of the Faculty of Engineering for testing and research purposes. The labs used for this intent are Power Electronics lab, Control Labs, Electronics Labs.

The university represented by its staff members have participated in several events and workshops to promote the use of renewable energy on country scale, especially that in the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Summit, the Lebanese government made a pledge to develop renewable energy production capacity to reach 12% of the total electricity supply by 2020. These events have been managed either by the Lebanese Ministry of Energy and Water (MoEW), the Lebanese Center of Energy Conservation (LCEC) or by the Order of Engineers and Architects (OEA). 

SDG8 advances “Supported, comprehensive and practical financial development, full and beneficial business and respectable work for all”. It reaffirms the commonly strong connection among monetary and social arrangements, full business and fair work. Among others, comprehensive and manageable financial development, innovation, and auxiliary change are basic and must be guided by a general vital heading.

The financial management is more urgent than any other time, considering the phenomenal effects of new innovation bunches on all SDG territories and especially on the fate of work and worldwide development. Significant levels of disparities proceed as significant obstructions to SDG8 advancement. Accomplishing a significant number of the different SDGs relies upon progress under the SDG8 targets. Preparing the approach needs, instruments, associations and assets that SDG8-related intercessions can bring is in this way pivotal for finishing all types of destitution and diminishing imbalances, while guaranteeing that nobody is deserted.

Moreover, progress towards SDG8 alone “Amounts to nothing”, in the event that it permits natural debasement and social prohibition. There is not a viable alternative for profitability development or compromise, increased efficiency development is required for work creation.

Ensuring rights and occupations must come along with work absence strategies. In numerous nations, an industry-drove monetary change actually holds the best potential for expansive based enhancements in labor efficiency and, resulting, respectable positions and moderate items. At the point when outlined inside steady enactment and supplemented by focused public arrangements, it can address the goal of financial development, asset de-coupling and comprehensiveness. Shutting work profitability holes over the public economy and along these lines dodging sectioned work markets is most likely still a solitary somewhat tended to challenge in most of low-salary nations.

It warrants nearer collaboration between creating accomplices and among non-industrial nations to disperse great practice and encourage expansive based profitability upgrades across nations. Miniature, little and medium ventures (MSMEs) are critical for meeting SDG8 and different SDGs.

They are regularly the principle salary hotspot for the most unfortunate populace fragments, particularly in country territories, and will in general utilize a bigger portion of the labor forces in weak areas. Be that as it may, MSMEs keep on confronting difficulties, including restricted admittance to fund and absence of limit and information, especially with respect to business improvement, promoting and key administration aptitudes, and, particularly in non-industrial nations, additionally feeble political, institutional and administrative systems.

The Islamic University of Lebanon puts stock in the natural nobility, all things considered. All who can possibly prevail at our University ought to approach it. We regard our disparities, commend our shared traits, and are joined in our common spotlight on scholarly accomplishment. We advance work environment variety in admittance to our projects and business and in the lead of the University’s undertakings. Here are models how the University is advancing comprehensive, practical monetary development and work for all:

Variety and Diversity cultivates a culture of incorporation at the University where all individuals feel esteemed, regarded, and included over all distinctions including being where skilled individuals decide to work.

The mission of Diversity is originated from our mission, University for the whole nation, is to help with making the activities that help the objectives of the President’s Advisory Committee on Respect and three of the five institutional needs, Creating Pathways to Indigenous Achievement, Building Community that establishes an exceptional learning and workplace and Forging Connections to encourage high effect network commitment in the Strategic Plan. The objective of Diversity is to guarantee that all occupation candidates, personnel and staff have reasonable and impartial admittance to work openings in employing, preparing and headway.

No individual ought to be denied business open doors for reasons inconsequential to capacity and work choices at the University depend on work execution, aptitudes, and information and capacities pertinent to explicit positions.

Fair Policy: The Islamic University of Lebanon follows a “Fair Policy”, which stick to the Fair Labor Conduct.

Organizations are motors for work creation, financial development and encourage monetary action through their worth chain. Fair work open doors are useful for business and society. Organizations that maintain work principles over their own tasks and worth chains face lower danger of notoriety harm and lawful obligation. Initiating non-prejudicial practices and grasping variety and incorporation will likewise prompt more noteworthy admittance to gifted, profitable ability.

The official wording is: “Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation, including through a focus on high-value added and labor-intensive sectors. Furthermore, according to Lebanese labor law, Decree No. 500 of 14 October 2008, minimum wage amended by degree number 7426 on 25/1/2012 which raised the minimum wage to 675000m which our university abides by this law. In addition to that, most of university employees’ salaries are above this level and it rises according to seniority and experience.

Lesser developed countries need to speed up the development of their manufacturing industry and increase its investment in scientific research and innovation in order not only to meet the 2030 target but to increase its development pace as well.

It is critical to mention that the only constant in life is change. Change is something that all countries have to cope and deal with. Change nowadays is coming in at a fast page especially in the field of technology. As such, the lesser developed countries need to make sure that they invest in their manufacturing sector in order not only to meet its 2030 target but to also develop its economy thus creating more and more jobs and lessening poverty, crime and other problems in its societies. The best way to do so is by increasing the investments in research and development as well as innovation. As we see, this SDG9 is interconnected with SDG4 as related to quality education. So, in order to progress their manufacturing abilities and capabilities, lesser developed countries need to invest heavily in education especially on the university level. Incorporating the latest technologies into the education system will definitely increase the development level.  In the developed world, just to illustrate, a company such as General Motors, invests more than five billion dollars a year on its research and development. GM understands that new ideas, cheaper ways to do things or cost cutting are critical not only to increase profits and the share price or shareholders’ equity but it also is a matter of survival. It is by all means a matter of staying in business for GM or getting out of business. If a competitor could do the same product that we do at a lower cost than we can then indeed this will be detrimental to us. To avoid such a dilemma for a corporation or for a country, it should be set as a top priority to invest in the latest technology to speed up the process of development and economic prosperity and bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.

The objective of sustained development goal 9 (SDG9) is to “Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation” worldwide, as defined by the United Nations. This would help countries endorse new technologies to build a reasonable economic platform that would yield increased employment and income rates.

The Islamic University of Lebanon (IUL) is actively working to develop the concept of entrepreneurship, spread its culture, and support youth capabilities to achieve innovative ideas and help transform them into profitable and socially effective businesses.

In the domain of capacity building, the university provides workshops about sustainability and sustainable development goals for their faculty members especially in entrepreneurship and in innovation.

IUL also has made several collaborations with national and international actors to promote innovation.

At the national official level, members of the university play a role as committee members in several institutions including the Lebanese ministry of education helping with the process of developing new policies by underlying the faced problems and challenges and by creating new strategies.

The university cooperates with national institutions such as hospitals, small and medium enterprises, and official Lebanese organizations by offering internships and thus students will understand the work of industry.

At the international level, the academic staff of the university participated in international projects with members from abroad universities so they can enhance their perspective of international research they also participated in several international conferences and workshops so they can enhance their sustainable development. In order to expand the international influence for the academic staff, the university ensures the participation of the staff in several international conferences and workshops. The university invests funds to support this kind of international participation.

Regarding the education strategy, the university has an ongoing strong teaching and research capacity which is important for the academic staff to promote the industry-university cooperation with an internship. The university already developed several courses and programs related to innovation in order to narrow the gap between studies and practice. The university created the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center to promote the culture of innovation. The role of this center is to transform talented ideas into a commercial product especially in sustainable industries.

The university tends to promote sustainable development goals by cooperating with NGOs and has achieved excellent results in many subjects especially with the several participations of their student in entrepreneurship competitions and won first prizes multiple times.

The university is dedicated to achieve the goal of Sustainability by adopting relevant measures. In recent years the university helped their students by the creation of academic counselling department.

The Goal of SDG 9 is to build a resilient infrastructure and promote industry and innovation. Members of the university play a role as committee members in several institutions including the Lebanese ministry of education helping with the process of developing new policies by underlying the faced problems and challenges and by creating new strategies.

The university also provides workshops about sustainability for their faculty members especially in entrepreneurship and in innovation.

For example, with continuous support and encouragement from the presidency of the university, the Islamic University in Lebanon was able to achieve second place nationally, among the twenty global centers as well, in fully organizing the global “Hult Prize” competition, through coordination between teams and judges and arranging appointments.

The competition was held on the university campus on Wednesday, February 13, 2019, with the participation of 20 teams from different colleges and specialties and a number of high-profile referees, organized by a group of students:

• Student Yasser Saad. HultPrize campus director-
• And the organizing committee composed: Nabih Allaw, Muhammad Madi, Doaa Issawi, Adeeb Fouani.

The four winning teams in the first places at the university level will participate in competitions in European and Arab countries, in preparation for participating in the final qualifiers in London.

It is worth noting that the global “Hult Prize” competition was established in 2010 by Ahmed Ashkar and Bertil Hult of Britain, aiming to support young students in the world of entrepreneurship in order to generate ideas and solutions to the most pressing socio-economic problems facing society and its needs such as food security, and access to On water, energy and education.

A conference was held with the President of the World Business Association of Men and Women, Prof. Fouad Zamakkal.

SDG 10 aims to reduce inequalities based on income and also reduce them based on economic status in a country, religion, race, ethnicity disability and gender among others. In addition, the SDG’s aim is also to address inequalities among different countries worldwide especially in such areas that are related to underrepresentation, development assistance and migration.

Some people might ask or wonder as to why this SDG is so important. The answer is pretty much straight forward. SDG 10 ensures that the voice of the least developed countries in the decision-making process in international and financial institutions is well heard and that their presence there is effective and leads to their benefit and development. Otherwise, these countries will remain isolated and lesser developed for a long period of time.

Inequality is a killer to a country’s progress especially when it deprives its people of equal opportunity that will lead to extreme cases of poverty. This will also affect their education, health and overall lives.

The goal here is to ensure that the income of the poorest in the world rises higher than the national average so that eventually this national income gap will be close to zero which will lead to better development and growth in the countries. New and improved policies in this context should be executed to bridge the gaps between the well represented and the underrepresented groups in societies around the world. It also should be fairly executed for best results. Moreover, easier access to the international financial system should be made available to the developing countries as this will allow these countries to get that capital needed for development and prosperity which will eventually lead to reducing inequalities at all levels.

The Islamic University of Lebanon thrives to help and assist and become a pioneer in reducing inequalities in Lebanon especially on the educational front. The university bridges all gaps between all applicants regardless of their background, sex, origin and others.

The Islamic University of Lebanon understands that one of the major reasons behind being an underdeveloped country is the inexistence of equal opportunities. Some people are given certain advantages at the expense of others which could be detrimental to the society and the overall economy. As based on that, the university makes sure that no application for any student enrollment is discriminated against no matter what. No discriminations based on gender, sexual preference, economic and social status, religion and national origin exist amongst its students and staff. The university is by all means an equal opportunity employer. The only criteria that the university applies is the one related to qualifications. And as such, students meeting the requirements as set by the university will be admitted to the university without any problems. The same applies to faculty and staff which are strictly selected based on qualifications only; if you are going to add value to the university then you are more than welcome to apply and get your application fairly reviewed.

The Islamic University of Lebanon (IUL) is committed to the fundamentals of freedom in academics, equality of opportunity, and preservation of the human dignity when it comes to decisions related to both students and employees which are free from unfair discrimination in all its different aspects. In Islam, discriminating against people for other than faith in God is completely prohibited.

The Islamic University of Lebanon (IUL) does not engage, regarding students’ admissions, in any issues related to discrimination or harassment against anybody based on their race, color, or religion. In Lebanon, there exists eighteen different sects which are all welcomed and encouraged to apply to IUL. Imam Mousa Al Sader was very clear many decades ago when he said that these different sects are grace and not indignation. Discrimination on the basis of country, ancestry, age, marital status, disability, and sexual orientation is completely forbidden. This nondiscrimination policy applies to admissions and employment as well as to the access to the University activities and programs.

The university in its pursuit of excellence in its recruiting decisions is highly committed to admit, educate, and employ individuals based only on their qualifications. IUL strongly seeks to attract its students and staff of diverse backgrounds regardless of their economic, financial, or socioeconomic status. No social exclusion exists at IUL.

Moreover, the Islamic University of Lebanon has many programs related to financial assistance to the students as well as scholarships. All they have to do is just apply. The university understands that equality in education is the name of the game; the foundation for equality, development and growth. The Islamic University of Lebanon does provide financial support for people with disabilities as well as those who are in need.

The Islamic University of Lebanon was founded in the first place to help and serve those who are willing to learn but cannot afford the tuitions of other universities (Lebanese University exempted).

The Islamic University of Lebanon has a partnership with several hospitals, associations, and others where they will get special discounts.

All orphans will get an automatic discount.

If a student has one or more siblings, each one of the siblings will get a discount in spite of the economic status of their family.

Any student who is not included in either one of the groups and needs financial aid will be guaranteed to get the aid as soon as a request is submitted to the administration.

In addition to all the financial help that is provided by the Islamic University of Lebanon, the president of the university, Dr. Dina Mawla, initiated this year a new program called “Takaful” to support the needy students with their tuitions.

The Islamic University of Lebanon aspires and keeps on the lookout for any ideas or programs that lead to more awareness of the problem of inequality and its reduction because it quite understands that if people are treated equally then eventually this will result in economic development, lesser migration, more human rights respect and higher standard of living. This will put an underdeveloped country on the path of becoming more developed.

That socioeconomic gap has to be bridged. It will be bridged by being equitable.

It is indeed one of the basics to have a roof over your head and have that place safe. In 2020, more than half of the people inhibit suburban areas. We notice that in the developed countries and especially the United States more and more people are migrating to the suburbs and this has its many reasons the least of which is safety as the suburb’s municipalities collect more taxes from homeowners and thus could afford more a higher police force. In addition, suburbs have better schooling system and more technology is invested per student making the student a better learner and increases his/her chance of being more competent with a higher chance than city dwellers when it comes to landing a good job. The transportation system in the suburbs is not something that is critically needed as compared to cities as most households have at least one vehicle if not more. Moreover, the green spaces in the suburbs are incomparable to those in the cities; suburbs not only enjoy wide areas of greenery but also creeks and springs. Thus, it is necessary to enhance urban environments and make them more sustainable, inclusive, safe and resilient to bridge that huge gap with the suburbs. Universities, as communities and innovation centers, have a relevant role in becoming sustainable entities and ensuring the sustainability of their local communities. In this context, the Islamic University of Lebanon (IUL) has adopted the vision of sustainable development and the application of sustainable development goals. The mission of IUL is to ensure quality learning for all students without any discrimination. Its mission has been reflected by its slogan “A university for the whole nation” as well as the keywords on its logo: Patria, Virtus, and Scientia.

As previously mentioned, IUL has adopted Sustainable Development Goals and it is on its way of implementing them. In the domain of sustainable cities and communities, IUL encourages arts and activities that aim at recording and preserving intangible and tangible heritage.

IUL is aware of the relevance of green areas so the Wardeniyeh campus has been designed to be a sustainable and green campus. Moreover, IUL ensures the accessibility to green spaces and pays special attention to the conservation of those areas. Moreover, the insurance of public spaces’ accessibility is on the plan of IUL. To illustrate, the stadium can be used by its neighbors free of charge with all its accompanying facilities.

IUL gives special attention to green spaces which cover an important part of the campus’ area.

IUL is determined to be closely intertwined with its local environment. For this reason, the sports stadium at IUL’s Wardeniyeh campus might be used by external parties with prior authorization.

Also, access to the buildings, library, and green spaces are for the public according to a list of invitations. So our university is always ready to host anyone on a condition that gets prior approval.

 

In the domain of languages, IUL hosts and participates in events and competitions whose aim is the conservation of linguistic-cultural heritage (intangible cultural heritage).

Participating in event Arabic language.

With the support of Dr. Howayda Sharif. Female students Maya Al-Mousawi (Baalbek branch), Marwa Choucair and Hamida Choucair (Khalde branch) from the Department of Arabic Language and Translation at the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences at the Islamic University in Lebanon, were able to qualify to the final stage of the first student conference for Arab Studies organized by the university American in Beirut.

A number of university students in Lebanon participated in the competition, while research proposals were submitted, under the title “Arab literature”, and related to:

• The Arabic language deals with issues related to literary criticism.
• How to read a literary text by observing its aesthetic properties and theoretical dimensions?
• The problematic of translation to and from Arabic, and the relationship between the Arabic language and literature.
• The relationship between the classical consecrated and the modern consecrated.

The mission of IUL is to ensure quality learning for all students without any discrimination. Its mission has been reflected by its slogan “A university for the whole nation” as well as the keywords on its logo: Patria, Virtus, and Scientia. Its mission is in accordance with the 7th target of SDG 11 which states as follows: “By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities”. In this context, IUL is an inclusive environment for people with disabilities by launching an initiative entitled “Inclusion is a right” to prove its inclusive policy towards everyone. There exist special parking spaces for people with disabilities as well as ramps and others to facilitate their lives on campus.

Responsible consumption and production are essential for the society. In fact, the humanity should control and regulate the consumption and production to sustain survivability. Efforts must be done by all the active bodies to ensure good consumption and production process. The sustainable management of the resources is one of the most important cultures to be taught and spread worldwide. Universities are charged to fulfill this mission, through collaboration with all potential communities and to organize events, in order to raise awareness about consumption and production. 

Responsible consumption is the use of material products, energy, and immaterial services in a way that their use minimizes impacts on our environment, especially in our present time where our planet faces not one, but many obstacles that are affecting our environment. In order to achieve sustainable consumption, two developments must take place: the increase in the efficiency of consumption, as well as a change in the consumption levels in industrialized countries. Sustainable developments as well as sustainable consumption rely on certain premises such as, effective use of resources and minimization of waste and pollution, and fuller product life cycle. Sustainable consumption and development establish a better future not only for us, but also for our future generations. Consumption does not refer only to individuals and households, but also to governments, businesses, and other institutions. For example, and in our universities, the new generation is paving its way to the outside world. We hold responsibility to teaching our new generation, about sustainable consumption and development in their day to day life, from energy and water saving within institutions, to recycling and waste management. Many consumers are aware of the importance of their consumption choices and care about environmental issues; however, most of them do not translate their concerns into their consumption patterns. Let us aim to implement frameworks, in order to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and development within our societies, as a sustainable lifestyle will minimize ecological impacts while enabling a flourishing life for individuals, households, communities and beyond.

The Islamic University of Lebanon (IUL) has the intention of improving the outcomes of operational waste on campus, but we still in an early phase of adopting strategies around Sustainable consumption and development.

The university has a verbal policy on ethical sourcing of food and supplies and waste disposal.

According to Lebanese government policies and recommendations, and on a daily basis, the wastes are sorted into different categories: plastics, papers, organic, and other general waste.

Fiber wastes (papers, cartons, etc..) are sold to private factories in order to be treated and recycled following standard regulations. Based on student initiatives that help deaf persons, the idea of collecting empty plastic bottles in order to be recycled later has become a new project. For this purpose, dedicated baskets were distributed inside the buildings which encourage all students to be involved in this act. Collected bottles are sold to factories in order to be recycled, whereas all the program benefits are used to help deaf persons.

The Islamic university (Wardenieh campus) generates around 50-60 tons of waste annually. On a daily basis, the wastes are sorted into different categories: plastics, papers, organic, other general waste. Once sorted, part of these waste is stored within large containers.

On a weekly basis, organic wastes are collected by the Wardenieh municipality. Following the Lebanese government policies and recommendation, the wardenieh municipality is in charge of burying organic wastes in specific landfill, while other types of wastes are recycled.

Fiber wastes (papers, cartons, etc..) are sold to private factories in order to be treated and recycled following standard regulations.

Based on student initiatives that help deaf persons, the idea of collecting empty plastic bottles in order to be recycled later has become a new project. For this purpose, dedicated baskets where distributed inside the buildings which encourage all students to be involved in this act. Collected bottles are sold to factories in order to be recycled, whereas all the program benefits are used to help deaf persons.

 

The official wording of the goal is to “Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts”.

The main targets for SDG 13 are to be ready to reinforce all adaptive capacities and resilience against all-natural disasters that might result as a result of changes to the climate in every country. In addition, certain measures need to be implemented in order to fight the changes in the climate to becoming plans, strategies and policies as well. Adaptation to climate changes should be well pursued with the reduction and minimization of the negative consequences that might happen as a result of climate changes. This could be well executed by increasing the awareness of people in this respect and utilizing education and human capacity to combat the negative consequences, if any, of climate change. Moreover, another target of the SDG is to execute the assurances of the United Nations countries of mobilizing the promised $100 billion dollars on a yearly basis towards the countries of the third world.

Moreover, actions to promote enhancing the capacity towards achieving a better climate planning and management needs to be implemented with the focus on women, the underrepresented as well as youth.

It is critical to mention that climate changes do have a great impact on the development of many countries around the world. There are so many examples historically of countries that were unable to adapt to the climate changes and how their economies suffered so much and that led to famine and many kinds of wars and for longer periods of time.

Many countries do not have the management, planning and the know-how to deal with crises that are related to climate changes. You notice that in third world countries, Sudan for example, still have no clear plans to deal with droughts or unexpected floods thus affecting adversely millions of people especially those that deal directly with the agricultural sector. As a result, not only large numbers of people could die as a result, but also the effect on the economy is indeed going to be disastrous. The economy when hit by its agricultural sector it will also suffer in the other sectors as well as they are directly interrelated. The loss will be translated into a negative turndown in the economy with low or negative growth leading to problems in the business sectors which will escalate towards an increase in job terminations, higher levels of unemployment, social unrest and low or no respect for the human dignity and human rights

The university, through the strategy it adopted, has been working to reduce the effects of climate change through the adoption of several policies, including relying on green spaces outside and inside the university campus to reduce the percentage of carbon, interest in afforestation of the surrounding lands and motivate students to care about the environment by engaging them in multiple activities aimed  to protect the environment and educate them environmentally through holding several seminars and workshops aimed at introducing them to the effects of climate change and the available means to reduce its negative effects on the environment and people.

IUL has taken several measures aimed at alleviating pollution on campus because it relies on public transportation to transport students to and from the university, and took into account in its design all the means that reduce the carbon level, its dependence on alternative energy, ventilation and natural lighting.

The university relies on three main sources to feed the electric energy, and these sources are: State Electricity EDL _ Generators _ Solar energy, and the university’s total consumption is 218479 KWH, and the solar energy provides 23616.KWH from it.

The University strategy states the following “The promotion of sustainable and balanced development across Lebanese territory and the evolution toward global” and which is from the major social challenges that are tackled in the strategic plan of IUL. Also, it is mentioned in the letter of the President of the University which states that: “IUL has issued new specializations that are harmonized with the global changes”.

IUL has organized several events and conferences in the domain of sustainable development. Moreover, some of IUL faculty members are working with NGOs.

For example, the University organized “The fifth international conference to be held in Lebanon, About: Environment and Sustainable Development – Challenges and Solutions”.

In addition to this, the university has been explaining and informing its students about the dangers and disasters that may result from climate change, which has become a reality that must be confronted either by adapting to it or by knowing the reasons to mitigate its harmful effects on humans and nature. The first step was establishing an environmental club in 2017 including students from all specializations to make the university environmentally-friendly through sorting and recycling, reducing plastic consumption, securing environmentally friendly alternative energy, and managing violations.

Under the title We Will Create a Green Tomorrow, the students of a second year in the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration organized a manual art exhibition as all the contents of the exhibition were intended for perishability, where they were recycled and used in a beneficial way.

One of the events that has been held on April 2019 at Wardanieh campus and was related to the sustainability is titled “Public Safety Culture (education, implementation and oversight)”. Figure shows a part of the poster of the event which has been organized in collaboration with the Order of Engineers and Architects in Lebanon.

The objectives of this workshop were:

• Discuss how to fill the gap between education and implementation.
• Exchange experiences related to the way the public safety culture is transferred to students.
• Explore the challenges faced in implementing the Lebanese public safety decree #7964.
• Discuss the future of the Lebanese public safety norms and decrees.

Within the framework of the challenge to the impacts of climate change, the university has been cooperating with the local community, especially with the municipalities, on activities that contribute to adaptation and reducing the risks of climate change, so it organized several campaigns, including the Cleanling Campaign along the southern shore in cooperation with the Union of Municipalities of Tire.

Whereas the phenomenon of climate change is a global phenomenon that is not limited to a specific country or region, it was a focus of attention from all countries. Therefore, the Islamic University in Lebanon was a pioneer in hosting conferences related to sustainable development and climate change, including the conference that was held in the university campus under a title “Environment and Sustainable Development” on October 29, 2018, which included scientific sessions and various workshops on renewable energy, geographic information systems, and data of the natural and human environment.

After climate change in Lebanon took a negative turn and caused a national water crisis, it had a negative impact on all sectors, especially the agricultural sector. The Islamic University in Lebanon played a prominent role in addressing the phenomenon of water scarcity through its cooperation with non-governmental organizations in order to rationalize water consumption. For this purpose, it organized a symposium on water crisis to present problems and solutions, in cooperation with the Bekaa Water Foundation and the Italian Civil Voluntary Work Association .

Life below water is primordial and essential for the human being. In fact, the humanity should protect the life under water to sustain survivability. Efforts must be done by all the active bodies to ensure good life below water. The sustainable management of the under water resources is one of the most important culture to be taught and spread worldwide. In the front line, universities are loaded to fulfill this mission, through collaboration with all potential communities and to organize events, in order to raise awareness about under water ecosystems conservation.

To Support aquatic ecosystems through education and to be part of the efforts targeting to reduce pollution and to raise awareness about under water ecosystems, The Islamic University of Lebanon offers some educational programs on fresh-water ecosystems. These courses can be beneficial in the marine fields such as Hydrology (Civil Engineering), Cartography – Underground and Hydrographic (Surveing Engineering) – Enviroment for Engineering (Surveing Engineering).  In addition, the IUL supports the sustainable management of fisheries, aquaculture and tourism through: for free events, seminars, brochures and booklets, etc.

On the other hand, and in order to raise awareness about overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices, the IUL supports the activities for local or national communities to respect the national and international maritime laws.

To Support the aquatic ecosystems, The IUL encourages the events aimed to promote conservation and sustainable utilization of the oceans, seas, lakes, rivers and marine resources to ensure sustainable food. In this regards, some students are engaged in a project aiming to produce plants and fish at home. This E-FARM project is an innovative farm involving some recent technologies such as controllers, telecom and programming.

E-FARM is an innovative farm producing 100% organic plants and fish while saving 90% of water usage.

To protect ecosystems and human health, The IUL provides potable water to all employees and ensures sanitation and drainage systems for the sewers according to national standards. To help reducing the pollution, The IUL provides and guarantees all the instructions for waste sorting to reduce marine pollution. For that, a group of students from IUL is engaged to collect and sort the recyclable plastic water bottles.

At the invitation of the Islamic University in Lebanon and the cultural movement in Lebanon, the Minister and Deputy Dr. Inaya Ezz El-Din a lecture titled “Approach to Waste Management: Between Sustainability Principles and Reality” this morning in the university branch hall in Tire, attended by the Secretary-General of the University, Prof. Hussein Badran, and the Dean of the College of Political Science and Diplomacy, Prof. Ramez Ammar, the organizational officer of the Jabal Amel region in the Amal Ali Ismail movement, the director of public relations at the university, Dr. Hisham Al-Husseini, educational and social events, heads of municipalities, university professors, students, and interested persons.

Our lives as human beings depend on the earth as much as it depends on the ocean for our existence. Forests and woods throughout earth cover about one third of the land’s surface. These forests provide crucial habitats for many species and are an important source for clean water and air, and are crucial for combating the changes in the climate. The many forms of life need to be preserved on land and this will require joint efforts in order to protect, promote and restore and conserve the sustainable use of terrestrial and all other ecosystems. SDG 15 focuses in particular on the well managing of forests in a sustainable manner, stopping and reversing the degradation of land and the natural habitat, halting successfully the desertification and loss in biodiversity. All these efforts combined aim to ensure that the benefits of land-based ecosystems, including sustainable livelihoods, will be enjoyed for generations to come. Our livelihood is greatly influenced by our surroundings. That it is why it is believed that if you take good care of you mother land then it will take good care of you. An example of what truly humans are doing terribly to wooded areas is McDonalds. McDonald is big in cutting trees in the Amazon area to create farms for its cattle. The idea is to maximize the corporation’s stock price and make its shareholders happy at the expense of future generations.

It is indeed a serious problem if we exhaust the current resources on land for our own individual self-interest and not caring about the future generation quality of life.

This is why the whole world has come together to tackle this serious issue that affects us now and our children at a later point in time.

A flourishing life on land is the foundation for our life on this planet.

At the Islamic University of Lebanon, the sustainable farming and planting approach is based on a mixture of scientific evidence and Islamic values. The scientific reality is that plants are the main pillar of life on the globe, and plants are needed for all other living things. The place and land on which the IUL campus was built is one of its key steps towards promoting the land ecosystem.

This campus is located at Werdnnayeh, a village in Mount Lebanon governorate. Around 50% of the campus’ area is covered by green areas. The cultivated areas are distributed between areas devoted to fruit trees and the others are used to cultivate vegetables where IUL provides farmers with this designated area for the sake of using it to plant different forms of vegetables.

They include many types of fruit trees, such as sate, olive, pin, pomegranate, banana and guava trees. Whereas ” Thru,” “Kenny, “Acacia” and “Lelandi” are for the leafy trees, with a rapid plan to implant 100 “eljamila” trees in the western fence of the campus that the IUL has raised in tanks. In all the campus areas and large grass areas, several varieties of flowers and some grass areas are cultivated. The total green area (A_G) distributed between the area of forests, grass and plants is equal to 13145.24 m2, while the total area of the IUL wardanyeh campus (A_C) is equal to 158413.9 m2.

The IUL campus showing the abundance of trees, and other vegetation areas that are the areas allocated by Greenhouses where a large number of vegetable spices are being planted.

The following Figure shows the total campus area of Wardanieh campus which is about 158413.9 m2.

Form the IUL total area, a great portion is dedicated to forests implantation and vegetation. Concerning the forest, the IUL has about 2300 implanted trees of several types that reflect their biodiversity. These trees are of both categories: Leafy and fruit trees.

Concerning the fruit trees, they include several types as sate, olive, pin, pomegranate, banana and guava trees.

The Rain water from roofs and balconies is collected in 11 underground tanks distributed throughout the campus, which work as sedimentation ponds as well. Figure 4.2 shows the location of the 11 tanks (named R1 to R4 and S1 to S7). The volume of these tanks is about 4,987 cubic meters. In Figure 2, each area is highlighted by a color related to the tank that collects rainwater of this area. The collected water is used as follows: 80% for irrigation and 20% for service.

Then the water is drawn from these underground into the main upper tank, and from it is drawn into the upper tanks of all buildings after being treated with ultraviolet radiation. The ratio of treated water use to the total amount of water reaches 80%.

Similarly, for the rain water on the roads, where the campus is equipped with ground tanks with a water collection system for the water from the roads. The rainwater that is produced from the roads and landscapes is then used in the permanent drip irrigation system to irrigate the trees and plantings inside the campus, especially during the summer days.

Institutions can only operate effectively and efficiently in environments that are peaceful. They can work effectively with institutions where it is easy to predict operating costs and where there exists stability in the working environments. Responsible business practices have to be implemented with integrity and professionalism so that additional risks and costs could be minimized or prevented (financial risk, credit risk, legal risk and reputational risk) not just to the business itself but also to the shole society where these businesses operate. The rule of law could never be undermined. Corruption is a main reason for inefficiencies in markets because it makes transaction costs uncertain leading to anti-competitiveness, and hampering businesses’ abilities to develop and comply with human rights and many other obligations.

A responsible institution. is a strong institution. It can through what it does as core business, its strategic and social investment, its engagement in public policy and collective action make a great contribution to peace, development and prosperity. This is all achieved in parallel with meeting the objectives of the institution. In addition, institutions need to commit to joining effort with the public sector and civil society to eliminate corruption in all its shapes and forms. They need to also support strengthening of the rule of law. By focusing on the ways responsible institutions operate such as fighting corruption, abiding and supporting the rule of law as well as fighting cronyism, societies will develop economically and prosperity will prevail and human rights will be more respected.

SDG 16 aims to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.

IUL believes that strong institutions require new forms of governance based on participation and democracy. The university believes that in order to achieve progress, development and economic prosperity in Lebanon, there has to be an ultimate respect for the rule of law and the judicial institutions in the country. True democracy has to prevail. True representation and participation of people have to exist in institutions to make them more effective. Once they become more effective, the whole society will benefit and this will lead to more justice and more investment by businesses locally and internationally leading to economic development, higher standard of living and more human rights respect.

The Islamic University of Lebanon has established several centers and committees to support its community such as INOVEC (Innovation and Entrepreneurship center), TLC, CBCC Training, Continuous learning and capacity building career center and TORC Tutorial and Orientation center. In addition, IUL guarantees the freedom of expression and the relevance of discussion and participation. For this reason, it has established a journal that covers many topics and it is open for all doctors to write and publish their works called the voice of the university (Sawt Eljameaa).

There are many Doctors that give their expertise in different fields in the governmental institution’s ministries and public departments also in committees especially in the faculty of law.

on the regional level we have participated in many regional competitions and the IUL strategy is to help law students in different fields and which was stated in decision no 1716/2008.

First Making many training sessions for law students to pass the Bar of advocates exam, the entrance exam to the Institute of Judicial Studies and also for the Notary Public and many public departments like embassies, ministries and the palace of justice in Lebanon.

Second participating in many competitions on the international, regional and national level stated below:

Paritcipation in the Monroe E. Price media law moot court competition 7th Middle East Regional Rounds in Cairo regarding Human rights (freedom of expression and the right of privacy) which took place in the BUE in Egypt from 4-2-2018 till 13- 2 – 2018.

Coach: Dr. Abas Jaber and Dr. Jinan Tfaily

Team: Sara Kanaan, Ruba Bou Khzam, Nermen Jaafar, Mohammad Jaber, Suzan Bedawi and Reem Araji.

We won on one team the Egyptian team.

Participation in the moot Arab court convening International Humanitarian law on February 2019, which took place in the Bar of advocates in Beirut. Participants Suzan Bedawi, Ayman Baraket, Ayman el Haj and Zeinab Hamze.

The Inter University Programme on International Criminal Law and procedures October 2018-2019.  Our participants visited the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) from 1 to 5 September 2019 as part of a three-day study visit to The Hague.

The visit enabled the students who have attended the Inter-University Program on International Criminal Law and Procedure (IUP-ICLP) to see first-hand some of the institutions about which they had been studying.

Participation in the Regional Arabic moot court which was organized by KILAW and was hosted by the Lebanese University in Tripoli on 13 April 2019. We got the third place over 17 teams that participated.

Coach: Dr. Abas Jaber and Dr. Jinan Tfaily.

Participants were: Sally Abd el khalek, Reem el Sayed ,Nathali Barake  Mahd AlMokdad.

Moreover, the Islamic University of Lebanon undertakes policy-focused research in collaboration with government departments such as CNRS and provides a neutral platform and ‘safe’ space for different political stakeholders to come together to frankly discuss challenges.

Also, IUL made many treaties with the Lebanese General Security dated 17-4-2019, the Lebanese Army dated 24-1-2020, Auf, IUF, UNESCO, CNRS dated 7-2-2019, and we have a strategic partnership with the National Association for science and research dated 12-11-2018 (iul.edu.lb)

• Implication de l’Université Islamique du Liban (IUL) envers le programme SAFAR de l’Institut français du Liban (IFL) Note rédigée par Sylvie Devigne et mise à jour le 20/10/2020
• Implication de l’Université Islamique du Liban (IUL) avec les projets de Médiation, de Droit, d’égalité et de RSU&ODD de l’Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) en 2020 Note rédigée par Sylvie Devigne et mise à jour le 20/10/2020
• Implication de l’Université Islamique du Liban (IUL) avec la Chaire UNESCO de Bordeaux Note rédigée par Sylvie Devigne et mise à jour le 20/10/2020