Project Description
The implementation of the LEBPASS project will result in various outputs and products that will promote the Higher Education System in Lebanon. The project could eventually unite universities, graduates, employers, and other stakeholders for the sake of delivering a Diploma Supplement that could translate the qualifications and skills of students and refugees who graduate from Lebanese Higher Education institutions.
These outputs are summarized as follows:
Clear educational objectives and student outcomes for degree programs
Principles for generating a Diploma Supplement similar to the ones adopted in Europe
A national information centre which oversees the Lebanese Diploma Supplements issuance and raises awareness on its benefits to students and refugees
A platform “LEBPASS” that includes the Diploma Supplement module and other related modules
This project shall be supported by European expertise that is of added value to the implementation process by offering guidance towards best practices adopted in Europe.
Europass Experience
In 2003, the Berlin Communiqué of the Bologna Process sought to bring more coherence to higher education systems across Europe and set the requirement for all Higher Education Institutions to issue the Diploma Supplement to all students graduating from 2005 onwards.
This esperience established the European Higher Education Area
- To facilitate student and staff mobility
- To make higher education more inclusive and accessible
- To provide better quality and recognition to higher education in Europe, this more attractive and competitive worldwide
Europass is composed of five documents are the Curriculum Vitae, Language Passport, Europass Mobility, Certificate Supplement, and Diploma Supplement
Diploma Supplement has become more and more a mandatory component of every degree certificate in Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes in Europe
Objectives
Provide accurate, fair and up-to-date information on an individual’s qualifications
Aid mobility and access to further study and employment abroad
Provide fair and informed information relating to Lebanese Higher Education System
Facilitate academic and professional recognition thus increasing the transparency of qualifications
Outcomes
Ensuring sustainable academic programs with clear educational objectives and student outcomes which able to adhere with Diploma supplement requirements
Developing principles for generating a diploma supplement
Creating a rational Platform through which the Diploma Supplement module is integrated
Adopting the Diploma Supplement module by the DGHE, university partners and progressively other universities in Lebanon
Establishing a national centre who shall oversee the Diploma supplement procedures, implementation and sustainability
Promoting awareness of the significance and benefits of Diploma supplement among students, refugees, employers and education providers
Lebanese Diploma Supplement is
A model according to the Diploma Supplement issued in Europe.
A flexible, non-prescriptive tool, capable of adaptation to local needs;
A device that has national and international applications;
A system to aid recognition for academic and professional purposes;
An approach that specifically excludes any claims and value-judgments concerning recognition by providing sufficient objective information;
A tool to focus on the outcomes of the learning that has taken place;
An addition to the original credential, not a substitute for it.
An Innovative Character
The first country in the region, unifying professional qualifications for major university programs to serve also as a benchmark for other HEIs in the region.
A pioneering platform for students qualified in Lebanon, that can also be integrated with other platforms in the future.
Raising awareness across Lebanese HEIs, non-partners, to start defining the outcomes of each delivered programs.
A formula for equivalency between the different adopted credit systems in the region: the U.S., ECTS, Egyptian Arab System, or others, which has been always debated.
Removing obstacles to academic and professional mobility due to a lack of transparency.
A pioneering centre within the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education for program competency and educational objectives validation which will ensure the sustainability of the project
Expected Impact
On the institutional level:
More awareness on the importance of providing the student a LEBPASS
Alignment of the framework with institutional policies related to graduation, academic rules, etc.
Influence in Institutional strategies and student support services
Common language within and cross institutions
Accurate and up-to-date information on students’ qualifications
Academic recognition and transparency
Increase of the student mobility
On the national level:
A common language for the different Credits systems existing in Lebanon
Creation of a National Information Centre for recognition
Having experts and evaluators to review diploma supplements
Mobility and access to further study and employment abroad
Providing fair and informed information relating to qualifications
Academic and professional recognition increasing the transparency of qualifications
Creation of common national platform for graduates to make their qualifications visible to the world.
