In a ceremony held at the Emile Lahoud Cultural Center, 220 students who completed Bachelor and Master degrees at AUT were recognized before an audience of over one thousand, including the representatives of the Lebanese President of the Republic, the Speaker of the House and the Prime Minister. Many members of parliament and cabinet ministers also attended and shared the students, parents and AUT’s staff celebration. The audience also included university and school officials, civil and religious authorities.

Myrna Jabre addressed the audience on behalf of the Class of 2004. She pointed to the valuable experience on a cultural, educational and social level gained through her university years at AUT and praised the university policy in providing students with applied knowledge that allows easy entry in the workplace. She urged her fellow graduates to uphold the values that they learned to appreciate and to keep aiming higher in life.

Next spoke Bilal Nassif on behalf of foreign graduates. He spoke of his experience as a foreign student who found AUT to be his second home and of the support he got from professors and students alike that made his stay outside of his country pleasant and rewarding.

President Hinain addressing the audience	Student representatives Myrna Jabre  and Bilal Nassif
Dr Francois Bassile, keynote speaker
" Congratulations "

AUT President, Ghada Hinain spoke next. Her speech focused on the expectations of graduates from life in the Middle East which is undergoing painful developments. She encouraged the graduates who embody the educated youth of Lebanon to keep up the spirit of dialogue that they have acquired at AUT. She insisted life will not be easy, obstacles abound, the economic recession is still hounding Lebanon and the area but, she said, the mission they carry should go on: the dialogue they learned to establish among one another has to continue so a better Lebanon can be built. She insisted on Lebanon’s  historic role, that of the intellectual hub of the region and the responsibility of the young educated generation of Lebanon to keep this role alive.

Hinain later expressed her frustration towards the lack of public policy in terms of interaction with the universities in Lebanon for a successful teaming of resources towards developmental projects. She said the public sector needs to establish a serious relationship with universities, which include experts in many fields. Another point of frustration, President Hinain added, was the relative lack of research carried out in Lebanon by Lebanese brains, which often are drained outside Lebanon. In this respect, she said, projects like the Digital Agora research on Artificial Intelligence, carried out at AUT as well as other research on a socio-political level were an illustration of  AUT’s will to promote research even with limited resources and to use the creative Lebanese minds for the nation’s interest.

Hinain ended her speech by pointing to the advanced teaching methodologies used at AUT and the unique atmosphere of learning found there and wished graduates the best of luck after thanking them on their trust.

The keynote speaker was chairman of the board of Byblos Bank, Francois Bassile, an example of Lebanese entrepreneurship. Mr Bassile spoke of the importance of human resource development as a means of enhancing the value of Lebanese firms. He also urged the strengthening of citizenship values that are conducive to better life conditions, pointing to the high rate of unemployment and emigration due, according to Bassile, to a lack of government vision and plan of action to improve conditions in the country. Bassile praised universities that prepare the young generations for leadership and thanked AUT for its efforts in this sense.

An opera interlude with Svetlana Awad and Tatiana Khoury came just before the conferring of degrees. A cocktail closed the ceremony.