1627 Graduates and Launched the University Hospital Project Salam: No Security or Safety without Restricting Weapons to the State and Restoring the decision of War and Peace
In a ceremony attended by thousands of graduates and their families, the university awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Law to the President of the Council of Ministers of Lebanon Dr. Nawaf Salam based on the decision of the Board of Trustees at BAU in its session held on 27/2/2025. Additionally, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Lebanon Dr. Walid Bukhari, received a Doctorate of Philosophy degree in Political Science after completing his studies at the university.
The ceremony was distinguished by the music of the graduation procession, composed by the artist Ahmad Kaabour for Beirut Arab University.
His Excellencies Fouad Senioura, Dr. Hassan Diab, Saad Hariri represented by Dr. Mohammad Hajjar, Minister of Culture Ghassan Salameh, Minister of Social Affairs Ms Hanine El Sayyed, Minister of Public Health Dr. Rakan Nasreddine, Deputies Ibrahim Mneimneh, Melhem Khalaf, Bilal Abdallah, Former Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr. Khaled Kabbani, Ambassador of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Dr. Walid El Boukhary, a Jordianian delegation included Ambassador of the Jordanian Hashemite Kingdom's embassy in Lebanon Walid Abdel Rahman Jaffal El Hadid, Former Ministers, Toufic Kreishan, Ibrahim Jazi Abdel Karim Malahmeh, Secretary-General of Arab Union of Free Zones Mahmoud Qutaishat, President of BAU Alumni in Jordan Khalil Radwan, President of the University of Alexandria Professor Abdel Aziz Konsowa, President of the Board of Trustees of Bir Wal Ihsan and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University Dr. Ammar Houry, BAU Secretary-General Dr. Omar Houri, Presidents of Orders and Syndicates, Presidents of Universities, Chairmen of Hospital Boards, Military Commanders, Heads of Institutions and Associations, and a large number of educational, economic, municipal, spiritual and social activists and families of graduates attended the ceremony.
Mrs. Zina Ariss, Director of Public Relations and Communications Department, delivered the opening speech and said, "Graduates are aiming high looking for the future, raising the name of their university, carrying hope and determination to make change. You are our youth, you are our Lebanon, you are our ambition and our future for a nation tired of ignorance and injustice, tired of destruction and oppression, tired of poverty and humiliation".
Then the University President Professor Wael Nabil Abdel Salam, said "Some may believe that the brutal war and the obstacles that accompanied it during that period stood in the way of completing the university’s journey for the academic year 2024/2025, but the will to succeed and love for the university had the magic effect in overcoming those obstacles and turning the challenges into more successes."
Professor Abdel Salam continued addressing the graduates, "Despite all of this, you have shown resilience and determination, a determination to adhere to your right of education, and to continue your path towards achieving your dreams. You have truly set an example of patience, perseverance and overcoming difficulties".
The University President announced the launch of a project to build Beirut Arab University Hospital, which will be built in a strategic location on the highway that connects the Sports City to downtown Beirut.
President Salam then addressed his speech to graduates, saying " Lebanon for which we work is the Lebanon that embraces you to live in security: you learn here, you work here, and you contribute here to build it as the image of your ambitions. Lebanon's future is not built from above, but by the powers of its aspiring youth."
Dr. Salam continued "We are here today striving, with all our strength and knowledge, to hand you a better homeland than what we received. As for the future, you make it, so make it according to your dreams, and do not accept what our predecessors failed to do, or what mistakes we may make.
Today we have a moment that cannot be postponed. Lebanon does not have the luxury of wasting time... Believe me.
Rebuilding a capable and just state is not a slogan to be raised, but rather a commitment that I and my colleagues in the "Reform and Salvation" government are working tirelessly to achieve.
He added, saying: "There is no resurrection of a strong state without real reform that allows for the building of effective institutions, and there is no actual stability without complete Israeli withdrawal from our country and initiation of the reconstruction of what was destroyed by the aggression. There is no trust without an independent judiciary, and there is no growth without modern and honest administration, and there is no security or safety without Limiting weapons to the state and restore the decision of war and peace to it fully. These are assumptions that we cannot compromise. We may be very late in consolidating it, especially since passing the Taif Agreement, but my pledge to you is that there will be no turning back from it from this day forward."
The graduates’ speech this year was delivered by students Mohammad Naboulsi from the Faculty of Human Sciences -Mass Communication, and student Tamar Houry from the Faculty of Pharmacy, in which they said "We took a path that was never paved with ease, but rather was paved with patience and hard work... We learned that knowledge is not only the accumulation of information, but also refinement of thought, formation of awareness, and consolidation of a principle.
At the end of the ceremony, the President of the Board of Trustees of Beirut Arab University Dr. Ammar Houry awarded Dr Salam the University shield as an award of recognition and loyalty. Afterwards, the university certificates were distributed to graduates and outstanding students who obtained Jamal Abdel Nasser and Issam Houri awards.
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