Education for Lebanon - Scholarships USJ Beirut

"Education for Lebanon - Solidarity with Students of Saint Joseph University of Beirut"

As we gather with friends and family to celebrate Christmas this year, we hope you will consider supporting students struggling to continue their education at Saint Joseph University of Beirut. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1875, Saint Joseph University of Beirut (USJ) is a Lebanese non-profit teaching and research institution that prides itself on a longstanding tradition of intellectual and moral excellence and a strong emphasis on social service.

Lebanon continues spiralling down the throes of a severe economic and social crisis compounded by the pandemic, the seismic Beirut Port explosion of August 4, 2020, and the collapse of the local currency. Since October 2019, the University has been operating in a prolonged state of emergency, with their students' living conditions dramatically deteriorating along with the country's conditions.

The crisis has forced thousands of instructors, students, doctors and nurses to leave the country. More than half of those students who remain now must seek financial aid to pursue their studies during the 2022-23 academic year.

Your donation would allow funding for student scholarships (the average tuition fee is USD $7,000 per year). Your support, no matter the size, can have an immense impact on the education of Lebanese youth and enable them to become competent and compassionate professionals committed to the reconstruction of Lebanon. It will help to ensure that USJ, as a Jesuit university, remains a pillar of the Lebanese educational system and the global Jesuit higher education network.

Following the call of Fr General, Arturo Sosa, SJ., to show our culture of solidarity, we invite you to help in any way you can. USJ students need our support. The very future of Lebanon depends on it.

Sincerely,

Philip Geister, S.J.

President of the Kircher Network – Jesuit Higher Education in Europe and Near East.