BAU President Announces the Launching of Petroleum Engineering as a New Field of Specialization

Beirut Arab University celebrated its Grand Annual Commencement Ceremony,   the 50th Class in a big celebration held in Debbieh Site on the 27th of June, 2013. One thousand seven hundred twenty Graduates were distributed into1443 Graduates , and  277 Postgraduate Students, from the Faculties of Arts, Law & Political Sciences, Commerce & Business Administration, Architectural Engineering, Engineering, Science, Pharmacy, Medicine, Dentistry, and Health Sciences.

The ceremony was attended by the Member of Parliament Mr. Alaa Eddine Terro, representing the President of the Lebanese Republic General Micheal Souleiman, President of the Lebanese House Speaker Mr. Nabbih Berri and Lebanese Prime Minister Mr. Najib Mikati  , Member of Parliament Dr. Ammar Houri, representing President Mr. Fouad Sanioura, Member of Parliament Mr. Mohamed El Hajjar, representing President Saad Hariri, Member of Parliament Dr. Khaled Zahraman, Mr. Mohamed El Mashnouk, representing President Tamam Salam, Mr. Toufic Houri, President  of Wakf El Bir and Ihsan Board of Trustees, Mr. Issam Houri, BAU Secretary General, BAU staff-members and BAU directors and thousands of the Graduated parents.

The ceremony was commenced with a recital of Verses from the Holy Quran by Sheikh Mohamed El Saleh followed by the procession of Graduates and the Academic Staff Members preceded by Prof. Dr. Amr Galal El Adawi, President of Beirut Arab University .
 

After playing the Lebanese National Anthem and the University Anthem, Mrs. Zina Ariss, Director of Public Relations Administration  and the Ceremony’s Presenter, reiterated the support extended to the graduates “in a stance of pride, celebrating a generation that faces darkness with enlightenment, ignorance with a free word, and bullets with knowledge”, and holding the “responsibility for excellence, success, respect of intellect, cultural allegiance and upholding coexistence” as she said.

In her turn, the  Graduate Batoul Ali Al Amin, from the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration delivered the Graduates’ Speech  describing the  Commencement  by the  “Sailing from the shores of the University towards the horizons of life, declaring the beginning of a dream that has been realized with the successful completion of one educational phase, thus adding yet another mystery to the meaning of life”. She further described the progress of science and knowledge as a battle and struggle against ignorance and backwardness.

President of Beirut Arab University Prof. Dr. Amr Galal El Adawi highlighted in his speech the various landmarks that the University created in its efforts to disseminate education and promote scientific research, stressing on “the international validation attained by the Faculty of Architectural Engineering from the Royal Institution of the British Architects (RIBA) this year”. He added that the “University has also introduced new fields of specialization in order to meet the demands of the job-market, especially  the Petroleum Engineering Program”, whereby he announced the “launching of this new specialization and its implementation within the next Academic Year 2013-2014, in addition to various vocational diplomas, diverse Master degrees, continuing education, and enhancing integration and interdisciplinarity between the various programs at the Faculties.”

And in a very distinctive and with full pride, Prof. El Adawi   congratulated Beirut Arab University’s Graduate from the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences Sheikh Abdallah Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al Thany, who was recently appointed as both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Interior in Qatar.

Moreover, he outlined the university’s strategy for the upcoming five years, aiming at “qualifying its graduates in order to be able to be strong competitors in accordance with the international standards through developing human resources, advancing the educational process, enhancing scientific research, grants & creative thought, as well as being able to achieve positive interaction with the community. He urged them to work on themselves in order to achieve and  promote networking with the University graduates, friends and regional and international institutions.”

The keynote speaker of the Commencement Ceremony, the Egyptian ambassador to Lebanon, Mr. Ashraf Hamdi described BAU in his speech  as “the space for spiritual and cultural fusion between the Egyptian and the Lebanese peoples, who have many ties and connections on various levels”. He called upon the graduates to “salvage the exhausted homelands and the deferred dreams, and to uphold a human culture that preserves diversity, respects difference, accepts the other, and defines a new destination for events”.

Ambassador Hamdi further explained that graduates should release themselves out into a far more competitive world in which they will face great challenges. He called upon them to “give free leash to their thoughts outside the traditional frame outlines and to be able to keep abreast with innovations, bold ideas, contradictions and challenges, and to be able to show gratitude to the community”. He also asked the graduates to find their role-models, and in turn to become role-models for others.

At the end of the Speeches Commencement  Ceremony, Prof. El Adawi granted the Ambassador Ashraf Hamdi, the Keynote Speaker of the event, a commemorative shield from Beirut Arab University as an appreciation, followed by the distribution of the Graduates’ Certificates.