Lebanon- Research for Results Program Education Webinar Series

H.E. Dr. Tarek Majzoub

Tarek Majzoub is Lebanon’s caretaker Minister of Education and Higher Education. He obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the Lebanese University, a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (BE) from the American University of Beirut (AUB), and a doctorate in Public Law from the University of Rennes I (France), in 1993. He taught at universities in Lebanon and a number of Western countries. He served as a consultant at different government institutions and ministries and at a number of international and regional organizations (League of Arab States, ESCWA, UNDP, ILO, FAO, UNESCO and the World Bank). He is the author of several legal articles and books.

Mr. Saroj Kumar Jha

Saroj Kumar Jha is the World Bank Regional Director for Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Jordan and Syria, since July 2017. Before his appointment, Saroj was Senior Director of the Fragility, Conflict and Violence Global Practice at the World Bank Group. Earlier, he was the Bank’s Regional Director for Central Asia and also served as the Global Manager for the Disaster Risk Management Practice and as Head of the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), which he founded in 2006.

Brief overview of Research for Results Study Objectives and Implementation

Fadi Yarak is the Director General of Education and Higher Education in the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education. He has served to date under six successive governments. He leads the management and development of Lebanon’s school system, supervising the development of policies and strategies, legislation, and programming in the sector. He is responsible for the direction and operation of national public schools, as well as liaison with and regulation of Lebanon’s thriving and complex private school sector. He also serves as Chair of the Board of the Indemnity Fund that governs and manages pension rights for teachers in Lebanon. Mr. Yarak is the Government of Lebanon’s focal point on SDG4 and directs the Ministry’s Executive Committee on this topic.

Presentations

*Maciej Jakubowski is a policymaker, advisor, and researcher in education and labor market policy. He served as an under-secretary of state at the Polish Ministry of National Education. He established the Evidence Institute to promote evidence-based policymaking and large-scale student assessments. Before joining the government, he worked in the OECD PISA team in Paris. He is a consultant for the World Bank, European Commission, UNDP, UNESCO, OECD, and cooperates with think-tanks and governments in Europe and the US. He previously worked as a senior advisor to the Public Education Evaluation Commission. Mr. Jakubowski holds a doctorate in economics and MA in sociology from the University of Warsaw where he still works as an assistant professor. *Tomasz Gajderowicz is a policy advisor in the field of education and the labor market. Tomasz specializes in data science methods for uncovering incentives, that drive educational and professional decisions. He elaborated the framework of the implementation of modern microeconometric techniques in research on preferences and assessments. Tomasz holds a doctorate in economic sciences, he works as a European Commission expert, a consultant for the World Bank, and ETEC consultant. Tomasz holds the position of Research Director in Evidence Institute and works as Assistant Professor at the University of Warsaw. Tomasz is experienced in leading a number of international projects on educational data analysis and policy.

*Ghinwa Itani Malas is an Education Specialist at UNICEF Lebanon country office. Her work focuses on supporting the development and implementation of quality formal and non-formal education in collaboration with the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education, local and international development partners and stakeholders in the Education sector in response to the compounded multiple crises Lebanon is facing. She holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership as well as various certifications for professional development, training and accreditation in international education. Ghinwa was involved in numerous projects to improve education for children, teachers and school leadership in private and public educational institutions. *Sheena Fazili is a Consultant in the World Bank’s Education Global Practice. She is part of the EduAnalytics team which is responsible for measuring learning poverty while also providing broader data-focused technical assistance to the Bank’s education portfolio. Her research interest lies in the area of Economics of Education with a particular focus on fragile contexts. She works on measuring the impact of policies and interventions to improve learning outcomes. She holds a Master’s in Development Economics from Georgetown University and specializes in the use of econometric methods to inform evidence-based decision making.

Discussion

Hilda Khoury is the Director of Counseling and Guidance Department in the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education. She has also worked as a math writer and editor (e-Platform), coordinator and math teacher, teacher trainer and an educational consultant throughout her career.

Diane Nauffal is Assistant to the President for Institutional Research and Assessment at the Lebanese American University. She provides decision-support research and analysis needed in planning and policy-formulation processes and institutional effectiveness activities. In addition, she supports all institutional assessment efforts covering the spectrum of activities related to programs, students, faculty and staff. Diane also serves as a faculty member in the Department of Education, specializing in educational leadership and management. Her areas of professional interest are strategic planning, leadership and governance, educational policy, assessment of student learning, accreditation, and institutional effectiveness with an emphasis on higher education. She has several articles, conference papers and book chapters in these areas. She holds a doctorate in Educational Management and Policy from the University of Birmingham, UK.

Karma El Hassan is a professor of Educational Psychology Measurement and Evaluation at the American University of Beirut. She previously served as the Director of the Office of Institutional Research & Assessment (OIRA) at the University. As Director of OIRA, she engaged in institutional assessment, development of assessment plans, and preparations for accreditation, program and peer review in higher education. Karma has served as UNESCO Consultant since 2007, closely engaged in preparing several country and regional reports, conducting assessment studies, and conducting regional workshops on assessment. In Lebanon, she contributed by serving on the following committees: Basic Education Strategic Planning, the National Task Force for Governance in Higher Education, Research for Results (R4R) Steering Committee, and as the national advisor on The National Student Learning Assessment Framework.

Q&A from participants