LSI’s Work On The Higher Education Capacity Development Program Will Continue Into 2025

Tallahassee, FL – The Learning Systems Institute (LSI) at Florida State University has partnered with the Education Development Center (EDC) working on the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on the Higher Education Capacity Development (HECD) Program since 2019. The program just wrapped up its fifth year and has been extended through August 31, 2025.

As of September 2024, 14,156 students were enrolled in the Lebanon HECD Program with 12,983 completing courses. Over 1,000 HEI staff have participated in at least one HECD training and 422 have received certifications through the Training for Trainers program.

HECD provides institutional capacity building interventions for 10 Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in Lebanon. International experts from the EDC and LSI deliver professional development training, institutional capacity strengthening webinars, technical consultations and coaching. Content areas include alumni tracking, data analytics, employer engagement, career center enhancement, online learning/instructional design, job readiness skills, work-based learning, entrepreneurship, grant writing systems, design thinking and mental health for the workplace.

“We are proud to support Lebanon’s higher education institutions through the HECD Program,” said LSI Director and Principal Investigator Rabieh Razzouk. “Higher education has been a cornerstone of the country’s resilience amid decades of adversity. While the sector has faced tremendous challenges in recent years, we remain committed to fostering innovation and sustainability that empower students and partner institutions to thrive through these difficult times as we continue into 2025.”

During the third and fourth quarters of fiscal year 2024, significant progress was made to improve the institutional capacity of HEIs to deliver job readiness and expand job readiness programs and tools. HECD launched a new international training initiative to support HEI staff in selecting and attending international training workshops that align with particular capacity building needs within their respective institutions. HECD also supported the launch of Lebanon's first nationwide Career Center Consortium and increased its efforts to foster collaboration between the private sector and HEIs. Several meetings were conducted with employers and invitations were extended to them to participate in HECD activities.

LSI is at the forefront of developing innovative solutions that bridge theory and practice in education. Our experts' advanced research provides state-of-the-art methods and a clear path for implementation. For 55 years, LSI has delivered systems that measurably improve the learning and performance of organizations and individuals in Florida and worldwide.