Contractual professors from the Lebanese University during the press conference on Tuesday. (Credit: NNA)
A group of contractual professors from the Lebanese University has threatened to strike at the start of the academic year if the full-time appointments of part-time lecturers are not made beforehand. The issue, which has been stalled for over 14 years due to political, sectarian and economic considerations, seeks to provide an intermediary status between permanent staff and part-time lecturers.
During a press conference held at the Press Syndicate on Tuesday, the contractual professors called on caretaker Education and Higher Education Minister Abbas Halabi and Lebanese University President Bassam Badran to unblock the file. Otherwise, more than 600 contractual professors vow to disrupt the start of the academic year for the country's only public university and its 63,000 students, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA).
“Following a survey of 645 contractual professors, nearly 93 percent expressed their willingness not to begin the academic year if the full-time appointments of part-time lecturers are not completed,” Nady Nammar, the professors' spokesperson, said while reading the professors' statement.
The professors also expressed their determination to rally contractual staff from various campuses and branches of the Lebanese University to intensify their movement if their demands are not met.
"The Lebanese University has 3,000 hourly-paid contractual professors, of whom 1,760 are eligible for full-time lecturer status because they hold a doctorate and meet the required seniority (at least two years with 200 teaching hours per year)," Badran explained in an interview with L'Orient-Le Jour last March. However, the university currently has only 1,600 permanent professors.
A stalled file
The issue has been paralyzed amid Lebanon's multifaceted crisis since 2019 and the freeze on new public sector appointments. Yet, around 1,000 professors have retired since 2014.
"I promise to resolve the full-time lecturer file by September," caretaker Education Minister Abbas Halabi said in an August interview with L'Orient-Le Jour. He acknowledged the complexity of the case, noting that the 1,760 contractual professors seeking this status, which would grant them social benefits, are backed by political forces at the expense of sectarian balance. The number of Shiite candidates is significantly higher than that of other communities, and Muslim candidates far outnumber Christian candidates.
After presenting a failed initial proposal in 2022, Halabi announced that he was preparing a new project to grant full-time lecturer status to a number of contractual professors, considering the university's needs, and their qualifications, and attempting to maintain sectarian balance as much as possible. He assured that he was engaging in the necessary discussions to ensure the project’s adoption, as it depends on a government decision.
While Halabi is currently embroiled in a new controversy over the increase in public school registration fees, and rumors circulate about his potential withdrawal, there are no signs yet of a favorable outcome for the contractual professors’ demands.