Students and faculty from the Lebanese American University with Ambassador Maura Connelly during a reception to honor scholarship recipients.

USAID

USAID provides merit-based scholarships to financially needy and academically eligible public school graduates from across Lebanon, including the most disadvantaged corners of the country. These scholarships enable students, often from marginalized families that would otherwise have no possible means to attend these schools, to study at the highest-quality Lebanese universities.  These universities offer an American-style education that promotes critical thinking, leadership skills and community service. 

Our impacts in this sector include:

• A higher education scholarship program that provides full, four-year scholarships to 220 Lebanese public school graduates.  Although the program targets men and women equally, the gender breakdown represents the prevailing one in the public school system; nearly two-thirds of the recipients are women.
• Grants awarded through the National Academies of Science to five Lebanese scientists from prominent Lebanese universities to complete specialized research on water and air pollution, wildfires and landslides. The grants promote direct cooperation with American scientists and access to cutting-edge research as part of the Washington-based Partnership for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER).