Energy problems play an important role in the global development of industrial and underdeveloped countries. Energy issues are usually accompanied with the challenging trade off of energy production and environmental sustainability. Recently, an offshore reserve of Oil and Gas was localized in the Mediterranean Sea near the Lebanese coast. The Lebanese Government set up a new “Gas and Oil Committee” belonging to the Water and Energy Ministry. The goal of this Committee is to publish tenders for Gas and Oil Offshore inspection and exploitation. An increasing demand for Engineers in the field of new reservoir drilling and fuel raw material processing is expected in the upcoming twenty-five years.The Lebanese Higher Education sector is a well-developed one. This sector regroups one public University which is the Lebanese University and more than 50 private universities. All the Lebanese universities’ curricula are one step behind in the field of Gas and Oil processing. This is due to the fact that the country is not a producer of this kind of raw material. Two refineries were present in the country before the civil war (1975-1989). Those refineries were completely destroyed during the civil war and their actual role has been reduced to the imported fuel storage. This project will address all the above problems by setting up a new teaching curriculum at the Lebanese universities by a joint effort with the European universities members of the Consortium. This project will also help in creating a network of Lebanese and European universities promoting academic excellence through joint research, education, and exchange of experience. This will contribute in the sustainable development of the Lebanese higher educational system and in improving the career prospects of scholars in their home countries.This new curriculum will allow forming engineers who can produce and manage innovation in the chemical, Gas and Oil processing, environmental, and new materials sectors.

HEIs in the MENA region have been struggling to uphold their functions, as demonstrated by high unemployment rates for university graduates and lack of community engagement and public debate. Given the expected increase in university enrollment and the global progression of technological advancements, HEIs need to move towards more value-added activities to produce graduates who are capable to join the labour market, prepared to participate in research, and aware of contemporary issues such as Sustainable Urban Mobility. This project intends to strengthen the relations between HEIs and the wider economic and social environment through a forum for UPGRADE. UPGRADE aims at directing the development of higher education and research, and involving transport businesses, to address the transport challenges in Partner Countries and serve the needs of unprivileged minorities of society. Being a hot topic on the international agenda, UPGRADE puts emphasis on the global refugee crisis that evolved lately in the EU and the MENA region. In particular, addressing the accessibility and mobility challenges of refugees in their host countries is selected as a case study. The project blends theoretical knowledge and best practices from different fields to tackle a real-world case study through the involvement of NGOs, local voluntary associations, and the business sector. Multidisciplinary courses will be taught at HEIs of Partner Countries after a process of curriculum reforms and lab developments. Project outputs include developed courses, upgraded facilities, training of trainers and students, transport business model, and publications. The diversity of courses and the real-life exposure will allow students to have the chance to get out of the cocoons of their universities, spread their wings, and test their ability to soar. As such, UPGRADE responds to a regional educational need and an international commitment.

Hospital waste poses enormous environmental problems in industrialized and underdeveloped countries, especially in Mediterranean countries like Lebanon. Any discharge of genotoxic waste or hazardous component to the environment will have catastrophic ecological consequences. Thus, the selection of an appropriate hospital wastewater treatment technology is crucial and aims to remove problematic particles or compounds rather than diluting them with residential wastewater streams and re-emit them into the environment.Since the Syrian refugee crisis in 2011 and after its exacerbation in 2015, Lebanon has exploited its natural resources more and the Lebanese hospitals have produced more hazardous waste, which has harmful environmental and social impacts. To overcome this serious problem, radical solutions should be urgently implemented. SWaTH project can be a real and effective solution.With the joint help of the EU partners, the following will be completed:1) Needs analysis on the methods currently used in Lebanon for the treatment of hospital wastewater2) Evaluate the compliance level of these methods with European and international standards based on the benchmark analysis of the most efficient wastewater treatment techniques currently used in Europe.3) Address a recommendation letter to the concerned Ministries and Syndicates4) Long-term internships for Lebanese students.5) Training and workshops for Lebanese Faculty members.6) Purchase and establish a pioneering wastewater treatment facility in five of the best Lebanese Universities.7) Carry out social and environmental life cycle analyses.The Consortium will comprise five European higher education institutions (UGR, KTH, ULR, UdL, and UOULU), one small and medium sized European enterprise (PLAS), and five Lebanese higher education institutions (UOB, LU, LAU, USEK, and NDU).

Inter-professional student-led clinic (IPC) is demonstrated to improve the efficiency of healthcare delivery as well as patient outcomes (World Health Organization; WHO, 2010). IPC needs inter-professional education (IPE) to be implanted into the medical and health science curricula. IPC & IPE aims to impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will enable future academic and non-academic healthcare professionals to function effectively in a university-enterprise collaborative care environment. This project develop and establish “I CARE” centres and Clinics which provide education, training, research, Primary health care patient treatment and community engagement. Some benefits of the inter-professional student-led clinic (SLC) model are:I. for the medial and healthcare science students: an opportunity to develop clinical skills within a supervised environment and II. for Patients: increased access for underserved and disadvantaged communities to free health care services. The main objective of this project and the IPC/IPE model is to strengthen the university- enterprise (healthcare sittings) cooperation and also allow students to directly contribute to patient health and feel valued for what they can provide the society during their training. The expected tangible outcome are:1) “I CARE” University-Enterprise Centres at 9 partner universities & web Platform 2) “I CARE” Inter-professional student-lead clinics (9 IPCs) 3) A Primary Healthcare Professional Diploma4) In-service Training (IST) and Capacity Building elements