Companies and universities urged to coordinate on research and labor market needs

The Industry Minister, Hussein Haj Hassan, raised yesterday many questions on the need to support students/ innovators and winners of international awards through turning their creative projects into profitable and productive endeavors, as well as the need to wisely select the type of scientific research with the funds and backing  it needs from the government. Haj Hassan was speaking during the opening of a conference entitled ‘the relationship between companies and university institutions’ organized jointly by the University of the Holy Spirit and the Lebanese Association for the Advancement of Sciences (LAAS) at the University campus in Kaslik. Dr. Na3im 3ueini, head of the LAAS, said that the purpose of the conference is to link graduates with industrialists and owners of companies and factories, especially in light of an increasing trend (nearly 600 students) for PhD enrollment in the various disciplines and specialties. Participants stressed the importance of funneling doctorate projects into the labor market to reduce the spread of unemployment among the young generation in Lebanon. For his part, the president of the Lebanese Industrialists Association, Fadi Gemayel, pointed out that the country “lacks the needed comprehensive vision and strategy in order to utilize youth potentials in order to achieve economic growth and social prosperity.” Likewise, Dr. Ahmad Jamal, the Director General of Higher Education, noted that efforts by young researchers and the costs invested in their college studies are often not fully rewarded, so graduates mainly end up teaching at universities, adding that this is largely due to poor coordination between research outputs and labor market needs of the industry and economic sectors more generally. (Al Mustaqbal, As Safir, Al Diyar, January 27, 2016)