Al Sharq University
to open in Minyeh

A $100 million investment to accept 5,000 students

Construction works on Al Sharq University are expected to be finalized in Minyeh, in the North by early 2016.

Tawfic Awji, Chairman of Al Sharq University Endowment, said: “There is a shortage of universities in this region. We will be targeting Minyeh, Doniyeh, Akkar, and Syrian students.”

Investment in the university is estimated at $100 million. It will be built on a 274,000 square meter land plot, with a total built-up area of 185,000 m2. The university will be located directly on the coast, having a capacity to accept 5,000 students.

The Cultural Renewal Company is managing the project. Al Sharq University Endowment, a non-profit organization, owns the university. Donors will fund it.

The university will comprise four faculties in the first phase, including the faculties of media, business administration, social and human sciences, and education. Awji said that the university signed a memorandum of cooperation with George Mason University in Fairfax, VA to set the academic programs and curricula. “Academic programs will be set in cooperation with international universities, but the teaching staff will be Lebanese.”

The campus will include conference halls, theaters, parking, laboratories, green fields, arenas, students’ recreation center, and residential apartments.

Dar El Handasah designed the infrastructure of the project. Ghazi Mikdashi Office, architecture and planning company, designed the university. LAMICO is the contractor of the infrastructure and Mecco the contractor.

Awji said that the university aims to offer scholarships to 80 percent of its future students.