| NDU Notre Dame University - Louaize جامعة سيدة اللويزة |
|
|---|---|
| Motto | "Gaudium De Varitate" |
| Established | 1987 |
| Type | Catholic university |
| President | Rev. Fr. Walid Moussa |
| Admin. staff | 190 |
| Students | 5102 (2006-07) |
| Undergraduates | 4520 |
| Postgraduates | 572 |
| Location | Zouk Mosbeh, Lebanon |
| Campus | Suburban, 62 acres (250,000 m2) |
| Website | www.ndu.edu.lb |
Notre Dame University - Louaize (NDU; Arabic: جامعة سيدة اللويزة) is a non-profit, Catholic, independent university in Zouk Mosbeh, Lebanon. Founded in cooperation with Beirut University College in 1978,as the Louaize College for Higher Education (LCHE). The name was changed to Notre Dame University - Louaize on August 14, 1987 when the President of The Lebanese Republic issued a decree number 4116 [1] granting the right to operate an independent university. NDU is currently ranked 6th in Lebanon according to its presence on the Web by the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities.[2]
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Notre Dame University - Louaize was founded by the Maronite Order of The Holy Virgin Mary. Since its foundation in 1695 the order promoted education and improved the lives of people it serves in Lebanon. In 1978 the Order started a new project. Reverend Bechara Boutros Rahi (a former member of the Order and current Maronite's Patriarch) founded, in cooperation with Beirut University College now Lebanese American University, the Louaize College for Higher Education, the nucleus of today's NDU. The legal finalization of this project was the promulgation by the President of The Lebanese Republic of the decree number 4116 on August 14, 1987, granting the right to operate an independent university.[3]
On a land, granted by the Maronite Order of The Holy Virgin Mary, overlooking the Dog River valley and with a total area of 250000 square meter NDU campus was built. The campus is in its final stages of building and it is designed to accommodate around 7000 students.
The first phase of the construction project, completed in the summer of 1997, totaling 100,000 square-meters of floor space, accommodates the administration, the library, the museum, the computer center, the classrooms, the laboratories and the restaurant. In the present phase, NDU has finished building the faculty residences, student dormitories, theater and parking areas.[4]
NDU has two other campuses the north Lebanon campus in Barsa, El Koura and the Shouf campus in Deir El Kamar, Shouf.
All the degrees offered are recognized and accredited by the Lebanese Ministry of Higher Education. [7]
Recognizing that the library is central to fulfilling the mission of the university, the Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU) Libraries keep up to date with the latest publications relevant to the major programs of study through purchases and an active local and international gifts and exchange program. The Libraries welcome and encourage donations and institutional exchanges that support the university’s academic programs and the scholarly, teaching, and research interests of the NDU community.
The NDU Libraries consist of the Mariam and Youssef (Main) Library at the Zouk Mosbeh Campus, the NLC Library at the Barsa Campus and the Shouf Library at the Deir el Kamar Campus. The NDU Libraries are also responsible for maintaining and developing the research (non-circulating) collections of the Academy of Marian Studies (AMS) Library and the Lebanese Emigration Research Center (LERC) Library.
The Mariam and Youssef Library provides access to an expanding collection of core reference and circulating materials in print, manuscript, electronic, audio, visual, cartographic, and other appropriate formats. It also provides individual and group study space for more than 300 simultaneous users and a computer technology lab used for instruction and public access to the Libraries electronic resources. The NLC Library and Shouf Library provide access to a core collection of references, circulating materials, periodicals and electronic resources, in addition to providing space for quiet, individual study. The university possesses a valuable collection of manuscripts and unique folio editions relating to Eastern Christianity and its history, kept at the five-century old Louaize Monastery. The Center for Digitization and Preservation (CDP), established in 2003 and housed at the Mariam and Youssef Library, has digitized all manuscripts owned by the Maronite Mariamite Order in Lebanon and Rome, Italy, in order to preserve these materials and provide access to this unique collection to scholars around the world. Now the CDP is actively digitizing many other collections owned by other institutions and individuals in Lebanon.
The university is a member of: