The Delayed Appointment Fuels the Crisis... The Lebanese University Presidency File Under Pressure

The associations of Lebanese University professors, through the executive body of the full-time professors’ association, are moving toward escalating their actions in the coming days, amid mounting political and academic objections to the draft amendment of the university law, which is being put forward in a context that would allow the current university president, Professor Bassam Badran, to remain for a new term.

According to available information, the university president’s term ends on October 12, 2026. Under the provisions of Law No. 66, which stipulates that the university president is appointed by decree issued by the Council of Ministers upon the proposal of the Minister of Education at least two months before the end of the term, the appointment is supposed to be completed no later than next August 12.

The nomination mechanism is also supposed to have been opened by the university presidency two months before this deadline, meaning within the coming week, in accordance with the legally adopted timeframes.

However, the circulating indications so far do not point to any move to open nominations, raising questions about the possibility of failing to comply with the legal deadlines amid talk of a move toward an extension.

On the other hand, as a result of the broad political and academic rejection of the amendment proposal—expressed by professors’ associations, a number of political forces, and religious authorities—discussions are turning toward the possibility of agreeing on a figure from within the university’s own ranks to assume its presidency in the next phase, given the sensitivity of this position, which oversees the country’s largest public educational institution. The university includes around 80,000 male and female students, in addition to thousands of professors and employees, making any decision related to it one with wide-ranging repercussions for families across Lebanon.