Lebanon : American University of Beirut

Abstract

The American University of Beirut (AUB) styles itself as a private, secular, not-for-profit and independent institution of higher learning, open to all students irrespective of ethnicity, gender, or faith. It knows its beginnings as the Syrian Protestant College, which launched its first course with an intake of 16 students in 1866, thanks to the enterprising and fund-raising efforts of Dr. Daniel Bliss, who worked on behalf of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The name of the college was changed to the American University of Beirut in 1920. From rather humble beginnings with just a School of Medicine, AUB now has seven faculties and schools offering over 120 undergraduate and graduate programmes and a total of 26 degrees subscribed to by close to 8500 students (of whom 6750 are undergraduates), catered for by 538 full-time and 27 4 part-time academics. Despite being a fee-paying institution, AUB strives to ensure that students from more modest backgrounds can enrol, with 80% being recipients of scholarship aid that totals around $26 million. The social mix, however, is less than optimal, with an increasing tendency for AUB to become a rather more exclusive and elite institution, given high fees, economically difficult times, and decreasing sponsorships.