The Admissions Office at Notre Dame University - Shouf campus organized its annual Facts and Figures event under the auspices of the Lebanese National Commission for UNESCO represented by Secretary General, Professor Zahida Darwiche Jabbour and in the presence of Father Hanna Tayar, NDU-SC Director, Dr. Antoine Farhat, Dean of the Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences, Mrs. Viviane Nakhle, Director of Admissions and Examinations Office, and Faculty Coordinators, instructors, administrators as well as school principals from the Shouf and Southern regions of Lebanon. The event, held on November 29, 2016, brought together school principals with NDU faculty and administrators to introduce them to NDU’s academic offerings and their students’ academic paths.
Fr. Tayar thanked the Secretary-General of the Lebanese National Commission for UNESCO for her sponsorship of the event and welcomed the school principals thanking them for their presence. Father Tayar spoke of the continuity of education from the school to the university. “Parents choose their kids’ school,” he said “but the choice to join a university is a choice that the students themselves make – and NDU has become a university of choice.” Providing an overview of the university’s accomplishments over the past two years, Fr. Tayar emphasized that NDU continued and continues to grow despite the harsh economic and political conditions Lebanon has been going through.
The Secretary General, in her turn, expressed her happiness to be present at the event and particularly at the Shouf Campus, a campus that represents resistance and defiance against adversity. She lamented the fact that less and less students choose to major in Humanities’ programs although they constitute a basis for all sciences. Dr. Jabbour announced that the Lebanese National Commission for UNESCO is deploying tremendous efforts to promote social sciences programs in line with the global trend for the revival of these sciences. She also emphasized the need to promote vocational education to avoid the rising unemployment rates.
Mrs. Nakhle, then, took the floor and addressed the importance of the Admission Office in student orientation. The Admissions Office plays a vital role in cooperating with schools to provide students with proper academic guidance. That guidance accompanies students from the first meeting through acceptance, registration and all the way to graduation.
NDU-Shouf Campus faculty coordinators provided an overview of their faculties’ offerings. Ms. Maya Abu Khouzam, Admissions Officer, delivered an informative presentation titled "Shouf Campus and Schools" that included facts and figures related to the academic performance of school graduates at the university, as well as their careers and educational choices in university disciplines.
The event continued with a discussion between school principals and university administrators and faculty and concluded with the distribution of cedar trees – a sign of the “eternal” value of education- and with commemorative pictures with the Secretary General who was presented with an NDU-SC trophy in appreciation for her work in education.