The impact of the Economic Downturn and the COVID 19 Pandemic on Universities and the future of Higher Education

The Faculty of Business Administration at Al Maaref University, held its fourth Webinar on Thursday May 21, 2020 from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.
The subject of discussion is current, controversial and of special interest amid the COVID 19 endemic times.
For more than an hour, two distinguished experts have discussed and debated the Topic in the presence of the FBA Dean Prof. Hussin Hejase, and his assistant Dr. Ali El Dirani. The speakers were Dr. Ali Termos from the American University in Bulgaria, and Dr. Ali Rkein from Charles Darwin University, Australia.

The Webinar was moderated by the Head of the Accounting Department at MU, Dr. Hassan Rkein. The event had an attendance from Lebanese Academics and overseas, in addition to universities staff, and interested stakeholders and students.

Salient points from the event included, the current position and preparedness of the Higher Education institutions and how the decrease in Revenues could lead to the closure of a fair number of Universities.
Although the pandemic and economic crises will mainly threaten the universities and those who work at them, Dr. Termos and Dr. Rkein highlighted the fact that this can be an opportunity for certain universities to prosper. In addition, it is time for University leaders, staff and faculty, more than any other times, to up-scale their skills and competencies in order to meet the challenges to survive and prosper intelligently.