Haigazian University
Public Relations Director, Mira Yardemian
Mexique Street, Kantari, Beirut
P.O.Box. 11-1748
Riad El Solh 1107 2090
Tel: 01-353010/1/2
01-349230/1
Symposium on Quality Assurance
On June 1, 2007, the faculty of Business Administration & Economics at
Haigazian University organized a symposium on Quality Assurance, covering
quality issues in different economic sectors, including Higher Education,
Information Technology, Audit, Hospitalization and Hospitality.
The opening session started with Dean Fadi Asrawi’s address, who
considered that "over the last couple of years, the quality assurance
process ignited hundreds of conversations, discussions and debates-in
institutions, in university associations, in student organizations, in
ministerial cabinets and among most business firms. All were trying to
improve and to be seen as improving."
"It is management’s job to remove barriers to allow each person to do the
job and to work together to achieve the aim or vision of the total system.
The emphasis should be on doing, not the outcome", noted Asrawi.
The keynote speaker, Professor Ramzi Salame, Senior Specialist for Higher
Education at the UNESCO, tackled the issue of quality assurance in higher
education institutions and programs in Lebanon. Salame assessed the current
status of quality in education, and provided prospects for future
development. According to Salame, Lebanon enjoys a diversity of higher
education systems, with diverse inspirations of higher education
institutions and programs: American, French, Arab, the Lebanese university
and other mixed programs, all these resulting in a lack of unified national
higher education qualifications framework.
"Quality could be assured in higher education by embodying in the
mentality of all higher education stakeholders, the culture of quality, the
culture of evidence-based decision making, the culture of transparency and
information sharing, the culture of accountability, the culture of
productivity and results-based leadership and management and the culture of
commitment", Salame concluded.
During this ‘quality’ day at Haigazian University, a number of
distinguished speakers took part in the symposium. Dr. Amine Haddad from
"Gartner", talked about the "Best Business Practices in Audit", Mr. Joseph
El Fadl, Managing Partner at Deloitte & Touche, covered Quality Assurance in
Accounting, Dr. Karim Nasr, Dean of the Faculty of Business at the
University of Balamand, discussed Quality Assurance in Higher Education, Dr.
Patrick Tabchoury, Manager of St. Georges Hospital Ajaltoun, talked about
Quality Assurance in Hospital Care, and Mr. Joseph Moudaber, General Manager
of the Century Park Hotel covered the topic of Quality Assurance in
Hospitality.