The Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK; , Jāmiʿah al-Rūḥ al-Quddus – al-Kaslīk) is a private, non-profit, Catholic university in Jounieh, Lebanon. The university was founded by the Baladites in 1950 and ratified under the new Higher Education Law of 1962. USEK is the first university in Lebanon to be established by Lebanese citizens.
History During a time when the educational gap was strongly felt across the country, the Baladites were compelled to establish their scholasticate (a college-level school of general study for those preparing for membership in a Catholic religious order) in 1938 in Kaslik. It was one of the first educational establishments to be validated by the new education law in the Ministry of Education.
The university began as a one-building institution before expanding in 1950 to include new buildings leading to the current purpose-built twelve acres (49,000 m2) campus at the same site. The campus buildings for six schools and one faculty, a nursing institute, a center for learning and teaching, a center for continuing education, an infirmary, administration offices, library, amphitheater, archeological museum, sports center, bookshop, female dorms, and guest house which are arranged around a central tree-lined walkway, connected to a central plaza and green spaces.
When USEK officially became a higher education institution in 1962, it already stood out as a liberal arts university, adding a new faculty or school every 5 to 10 years to include all the major academic fields - the arts, architecture, business, engineering, humanities, and sciences. Initially, these were taught primarily in French and Arabic until the university converted to the American Credit System in 1997, and since then almost all courses are taught in English.
USEK has rankings in three major league tables for the Near/Middle East. In 2021, it was ranked 2nd best university in Lebanon according to SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR). Also, in 2021 it was ranked 1st Green University in Lebanon for the 4th consecutive year, 3rd in the Arab World and 117th worldwide according to UI GreenMetric World University Ranking. In 2020 it ranked 30th in the Arab region according to QS Arab University Rankings and among the top 650 universities in the world according to QS World University Rankings.
With a focus on comprehensive internationalization, the university has more than 250 international partnerships worldwide and is a member of around 150 international associations specialized in different fields. USEK was the only university outside the Americas to be part of the Internationalization Laboratory of the American Council of Education in the USA.
Along with seven other universities in Lebanon, it is a member of E-TALEB, an EU co-funded professional standards framework for excellence in Lebanese universities. The current president is Father Talal Hachem, since 2019.
Artifacts Religious treasures on campus include relics of Saint Charbel placed in the foundations of the original chapel in 1948, and Our Lady of Ilige, a 10th-century icon representing the Virgin Mary, the oldest Maronite icon, is conserved in the university archeological museum.
The USEK Library is home to one of the few surviving copies of the Book of Psalms, printed in 1610 on the first-ever printing press of the Levant region. This version is written in Garshouni, a script that Turkish rulers at the time could not understand.
Gibran Khalil Gibran, undoubtedly Lebanon’s most famous literary figure, features prominently at the university, which has restored hard copies of his works. As a show of gratitude, a license has been granted to keep digitalized copies of the complete collection for research purposes.
Lebanon’s iconic Martyrs’ memorial statue, which was damaged during the civil war in Beirut, was transported to USEK a few years after the end of hostilities to be restored by the university’s Sacred Art Department and local experts. It was returned to Downtown Beirut after its restoration.
Campus The purpose-built campus is located in Kaslik, Jounieh 19.7 km north of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut.
Kaslik Campus
The Kaslik site has been expanded and remodeled at regular intervals over the last 50 years. The north side of the campus has a view of the southern end of Mount Lebanon (بْنَان, Jabal Lubnān) and the west side the Mediterranean Sea and bay of Jounieh. The campus buildings are positioned around a tree-lined walkway. The walkway runs from south (main entrance) to north (Science Building) and is flanked by beautiful landscaped green spaces, specifically designed, to integrate social and teaching areas.
+ Key for Academic Units Building AA Administration, AC Student Service, G Building D Business School, LTEC and UCLC Administrative/technical offices Building E Agronomy Buildings AB/AC Letters Building F Female residence ‘The Foyer’ Building AM School of Music and Performing Arts Building G Administrative and Technical Offices Building B Sacred Arts, Theology, Liturgy, Law and Political and Social Sciences Building H Sciences Building C Arts & Architecture Building I Sports Department and tennis courts
Buildings AA, G, and the lower floors of AC house the main administrative and technical offices.
Buildings AC, AB, AM, B, C, D, E, H, and I are for schools, faculty, and other educational units.
Building F - USEK is a mostly non-residential university except for a modest residence for female students, providing common living spaces, 24/7 on-site staff and security. It has one of the most distinctive interiors building on campus. Nautically themed, it resembles the inside of a ship, with portholes, a network of fixed gangplanks and a small chapel at the position of a control room.
Regional University Centers
The university opened its three regional university centers (RUCs) in 2000 and 2001 as part of its sense of duty to make education accessible across the country. The educational mission and objectives of the RUCs are the same as those of the university.
The three RUCs include:
RUC Chekka – located 65 km north of Beirut - offers undergraduate courses from USEK Business School and the School of Law and Political Sciences.
RUC Rmeich – located 115 KM south of Beirut - offers an undergraduate program specializing in the field of business.
RUC Zahle - Located 55 km east of Beirut - offers undergraduate programs across most core disciplines, including applied arts, architecture, agriculture, business and commercial sciences, engineering, fine arts, food sciences, humanities, law, philosophy, and sciences.
Other off-site campus buildings
The Medical School The latest expansion of the university was completed in 2018 with the official opening of the Francois Bassil Medical Building, an off-campus Medical School, which is located 24.5 km north of Kaslik in Hboub, Jbeil. To complement this, the University Hospital Center was created in partnership with Notre Dame de Secours hospital in Jbeil for USEK medical students to receive hands-on medical training.
Kaslik Library
The monasteries and seminaries of the Lebanese Maronite Order (OLM) have always had well-appointed libraries. In the 1980s and 1990s, generous donations to the university enabled the library to transform and develop its collection, and from 2000 onwards, in addition to newly acquired collections of print books and journals, the library updated its systems and increased its range of electronic resources.
Important Collections
The library has notable collections of rare books and incunabula of historical and cultural significance and are an invaluable research source. The libraries rare books and incunabula include works in Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Latin, Ancient Greek, Syriac, and Garshuni. Special collections include approximately 2,000 manuscripts, handwritten in Syriac, Arabic, Latin, and Greek, covering theology, Islam, philosophy, Syriac and Arabic grammar, literature, astronomy, history, and more. Many of these manuscripts are translations from Latin to Garshuni (Arabic in Syriac letters), and some are unique, like OLM 263, which is claimed to be the oldest Maronite Syriac Liturgical textbook for the Palm Sunday Office of Readings, copied at Qozhaya Monastery in 1493. The newspapers and periodicals collections acquired by USEK since the opening of the library include titles of research and heritage importance include Al-Hoda, New Lebanese American Journal, Al-Muhajjer, AlHaqiqa, Al-Maarad and Al-Moktataf. Between 2015 and 2016, the library was extensively remodeled to accommodate the major cultural heritage centers of the university under its roof, including the Conservation and Restoration Center (CRC), the Digital Development Center (DDC), and the Phoenix Center for Lebanese Studies (PCLS).
The Conservation and Restoration Center
Established in 2002, the Conservation and Restoration Center manages the conservation and restoration of heritage collections including manuscripts, rare and valuable books, archives, maps, and photos to enable the library to make its collections accessible for research. The center also provides conservation and restoration services for the private collections of individuals, families, collectors, dioceses, municipalities, and universities.
The Digital Development Center
Between 2014 and 2015 DDC has been upgraded to the digitization of all library collections and rare materials and make them available to teachers, researchers, individuals in the USEK community, and visiting library users.
The Phoenix Center for Lebanese Studies
Home to a large archive of Lebanese heritage for researchers and students of cultural and scientific research. These archives represent the memory, history, originality, and identity of Lebanon, and include the major collections of key Lebanese historical, political, and literary figures in history such as Camille Chamoun, Fouad Chehab, Elias Sarkis, Bachir Gemayel, Lady Yvonne Sursock Cochrane, Adonis and Joseph Nehme, Wadih El Safi, Salah Tizani (Abou Salim), Maurice Gemayel, Youssef El Sawda, Kamal El Salibi, Gibran Khalil Gibran, Elias Abou Chabke, Bechara El Khoury (Al Akhtal as-Saghir).
The Museum
The library also oversees the Archeological Museum, which houses more than 4,000 archeological items, organized into collections going back to prehistoric times.
USEK Publications Office (PUSEK)
USEK Publications (PUSEK) is the university press responsible for publishing and archiving proceedings of colloquiums, symposiums and conferences organized at the university, as well as proceedings of archives and scientific magazines, scientific books, monographs, diplomatic archives of Lebanon and the Middle East region and manuscripts promoting the Lebanese and Maronite heritage.
PUSEK also edits, publishes and distributes hard copies and digital work of university researchers and research groups in all the major disciplinary fields: Letters, Human Sciences, Law, Business Sciences, Theology, Liturgy, Music, Medicine, Fine Arts, Sacred Art, and Agricultural Sciences.
SCOPUS and Open Access.
SCOPUS has indexed two university journals so far, and PUSEK is in the process of preparing its e-books for Open Access.
USEK Sustainability Office and the Green Committee
The university works on many internal levels to cultivate the mindset of sustainability within the community.
The establishment of the Office of Sustainability and academic and research centers in 2010, and the Green Committee in 2016 consolidated efforts between on-campus partners and built a robust and workable sustainability strategy to advance the environmental management of the institution, increase its environmental and social performance, and embed sustainable practice across the campus.