USJ work observatory attempts to address the needs of the labor market

L’Orient Le Jour interviewed in its May 28 edition Economy Professor at the Saint Joseph University Nizar Hariri during a recent seminar aiming to boost cooperation between universities and companies. Hariri who is also the coordinator of the Expertise and Recruitment Observatory at USJ pointed out that the project is being implemented in collaboration with the French University of Strasbourg and the Lebanese University, the Bassel Fleihan Financial Institute, Beirut Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the General Directorate of Higher Education. He said that since its onset in December of last year, the Observatory is seeking to link university education with the labor market through orienting students to those specialties that are highly in demand. Hariri told the newspaper that the domestic labor market can no longer assimilate fresh graduates, pointing to the soaring rate of unemployment in the country which largely affecting young people. The Observatory located inside the USJ College of Education Sciences, Hariri explained, helps companies identify the needed skills in order to train students. He stated that the main challenge at present is the upsurge in recruitment in the informal sector, which is feeding the migration of talented and highly qualified graduates. He urged officials to put in place policies aiming to address the current employment crisis. (L’Orient Le Jour, 28 May 2015)