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The global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has largely transformed the higher education ecosystem and shifted the modes of delivery around the world. The rapid shift from traditional face-to-face teaching to online delivery was accompanied by a set of significant challenges. In Lebanon, the situation was exacerbated by a plethora of political, economic, and humanitarian crises. Even the most well-prepared Lebanese higher education institutions were facing an insurmountable challenge to maintain education quality under extremely strenuous circumstances and limited resources. The challenges included the absence of clear quality assurance mechanisms, problems associated with limited internet connectivity due to frequent electric power outages, the lack of teacher and student preparedness for online delivery, and the absence of online-ready curricula. Nevertheless, Lebanese universities were able to make the necessary adjustments for their students to complete their education using available resources and minimal training. The current chapter explores the challenges faced by private and public universities in Lebanon and the approaches utilized to overcome tremendous limitations. We discuss the lessons learned during the process of adopting online and hybrid classroom learning, and the opportunities for growth that were brought about by unforeseen circumstances. We also introduce the changes needed on the institutional, national, and regional levels to prepare for the post-pandemic era in higher education.

Inclusion has gained incremental attention in Lebanon especially since it has been associated with quality education, being the Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) as declared by the United Nations. Efforts have been made by public and private institutions to ensure that learners with disabilities get inclusive education, and progress has been noted despite several challenges further aggravated by the pandemic and the financial crises. This chapter presents a close examination at the condition of inclusion in Lebanon as it thoroughly studies all elements of inclusion with the assessment of challenges alongside the discussion of feasible solutions.

What started as an apparently benign virus in a remote district of China suddenly had the entire world under its grip, with thousands dying every day in all parts of the world. World Health Organization declared it a pandemic and requested every country and every institution to minimize human contact and maintain spatial distance. The pandemic was there to stay and while the world tried to find its antidote months and years passed before a solution was found, or nearly so. Educational institution was affected with the entire economy of every country. Future of our next generation and the continuity of education were at stake. The only possible solution was to teach and learn from the safe corner of one’s home. It meant a transition of the entire education system to an online mode, which was unprecedented. Institutions grappled with technology, trying to find the right approach of imparting education, with added expenses and training the academicians to find a level of comfort teaching online. This book explores the theory that evolved around online teaching and cites evidence that has been gathered toward self-regulation and resiliency, highlighting the power and privilege and the best practices for implementing techniques to support students. COVID-–19 meant a paradigm shift toward teaching–learning methods and soon became the “new norm” in designing curricula so that students can continue with their journey toward acquiring high-standard quality education without any disruption in the future.

Since the declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic in March 2020, higher education institutions (HEIs) across the globe have shifted – entirely or partly – to online teaching and learning; Lebanese HEIs were no exception. Such an unprecedented and “forced” transition to online teaching and learning has created a landscape for scholars and researchers to inquire into the efficiency and effectiveness of online teaching and learning, students’ satisfaction with this virtual educational experience, and instructors’ satisfaction with such an experience. This chapter presents a study about Lebanese instructors’ satisfaction with online teaching and learning during the pandemic. Instructors’ satisfaction was measured in terms of three satisfaction constructs of psychometrically validated “Online Instructor Satisfaction Measure” (OISM): instructor-to-student interaction (ISI); student-to-student interaction (SSI); and course design, development, and teaching (CDT). Data were collected through an online questionnaire from 102 Lebanese instructors across 7 Lebanese universities: 6 private universities and the national public Lebanese higher education institute (Lebanese University). This study found that there were no significant changes between the satisfaction levels in relation to each of the ISI, SSI, and CDT constructs between STEM education background instructors and their non-STEM education background counterparts. Despite their dissatisfaction with the level of interaction between them and their students (ISI), the participating Lebanese instructors were satisfied with the SSI, except for students’ collaborative and group work, and were also satisfied with the CDT, except for the preparation time required for delivering an online course.

European projects from a wide list of subjects are sharing and promoting good practice in knowledge development but there appears to be opportunities to exploit the findings of these projects more effectively, especially relating to sustainability issues, in the implementation and development of robust curricula within higher education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

A detailed description will be given of an example of a partnership between several universities from Sweden, France, Romania, and Lebanon related to a high-profile industry area: oil and gas. This partnership was created within a European Project carried out during the 2015–2018 period. The importance of this project is focused on how energy issues play an important role in the global development of industrial and underdeveloped countries. Energy issues are commonly accompanied with the challenging trade-off of energy production and environmental sustainability. The research project evaluates the creation and delivery of a new curriculum at the Lebanese universities based upon the joint effort and support of the European partners of the Project Consortium.

The overall aim of the project was to promote academic excellence through an academic network and by joint research, education, and exchange of experience, but also knowledge that has led to the high-quality curriculum. It is expected that this will contribute in the sustainable development of the Lebanese higher educational system. The project is in perfect alignment with the EU Commission’s action aiming to deepen the knowledge of extraction technologies and practices of unconventional gas and oil while minimizing potential health and environmental risks. The project succeeded in the delivery and the transfer of specific knowledge, through a more effective curriculum, for future educators and offers students a high-quality educational experience preparing them for the oil and gas industry.

This chapter’s focus is on the disparate factors that are affecting higher education students that by circumstance not of their making are both displaced and seeking refuge within the fields of continuing their higher education. The fear of losing a young educated generation that can be part of the reconciliation process of the country in the post-conflict era has become close to reality, especially in Syria and in the neighbouring countries where the lost possibility of Syrian refugees’ returning to Syria is higher than other places. We have organized this chapter into three parts. The first part explores the history of higher education for Syrians with emphasis on the last half century. The second part describes the theoretical underpinnings of those displaced in today’s social political context through the lenses of Foucault and Maslow. The third part discusses a specific case study: the challenges Syrian students are facing in Lebanon, focusing on specific policies such as online education as a viable tool for serving displaced students, legal documents and the lack thereof, ability to get scholarships, policies and laws to understand.

The COVID-19 crisis has forced the majority of higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide to transition to distance education. All countries have faced several challenges, such as the deteriorating economy, poor ICT infrastructure, and insufficient training, in their transition to distance education, with the severity of these challenges being remarkable for developing countries. This chapter aims to investigate tertiary students’ perceptions, attitudes, experiences, and expectations of their higher education journey amid COVID-19 across four developing countries: Lebanon, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh through an online questionnaire that was administered in each of these countries. This study found that many of the stances, attitudes, concerns, and challenges related to online learning experiences and the emergency status of higher education were common amongst the Lebanese, Afghani, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi participants. The participants across the four countries favored the physical classroom over online learning and identified the disadvantages of distance education that included lack of ICT skills, poor infrastructure, and insufficient training. The few differences that were identified across participants from these countries were mainly attributed to differences in contexts, including socio-economic and political contexts. These findings voice the concerns of one of the key stakeholders, tertiary students, that address the transition to distance education during emergency times and call for immediate intervention from decision and policy-makers.

It is estimated that nearly 2 billion world population is now living in countries affected by extreme forms of violence, war, and criminal activities (World Bank, 2016). Apart from being affected by war and having higher poverty rates, millions are affected by climate-related disasters, pandemics which have destroyed livelihoods and lives. In 2011 and 2012 alone, more than 450 million individuals faced environmental crises (Blankespoor et al., 2010; Laframboise & Loko, 2012). Human rights advocates that every individual has the right to live with dignity and respect. International agencies are trying their best to ensure that everyone, and mainly the vulnerable communities, gets assistance in a manner that is consistent with human rights and includes the right to participation and non-discrimination. One such right is the right to education, a right which has been articulated in numerous conventions and documents and has been a part of policy maker’s debate. In emergency situations, whether man-made or a natural disaster, students face an acute crisis of accessing higher education, even when the country is limping back to normalcy. The book Higher Education in Emergencies: International Case Studies discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on teaching and learning practice in higher education in different countries and highlights the cultural transformation of policy and practice. In addition, the authors propose future directions on how to be prepared and address the challenges of emergencies and draw implications of their findings beyond the national context.