The Institute of Business Administration (IGE) of Saint Joseph University of Beirut (USJ) inaugurated, on November 29, 2022, its new premises and the Culinary Laboratory of its hospitality training program at the Social Sciences Campus, under the high patronage of H.E. Mr. Abbas Halabi, Minister of Education and Higher Education, and H.E. Mr. Walid Nassar, Minister of Tourism, and in the presence of the Rector of USJ, Prof. Salim Daccache s.j., the vice-rectors, the Director of IGE, Dr. Céline Boutros Saab, the General Consul for France in Beirut, Mr. Julien Bouchard, USJ officials and friends of the Institute.

After the introductory words of Mrs. Lara Méhanna, IGE alumna and instructor, during which she thanked the entire IGE team for its support, Dr. Céline Boutros Saab took the floor. She noted that “in 2021, IGE started a new chapter in its history by moving its premises from the Sciences and Technology Campus in Mar Roukoz to the Social Sciences Campus in Huvelin. For over 40 years, IGE has been offering specialized trainings, allowing students to quickly enter the professional world. Today, the Institute offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in the fields of computer science, marketing, hotel management and culinary arts.”

She went on to say, “IGE is renowned for being an institute that provides students with a professional approach on a human scale, by supporting them in their academic and career plans. 400 students, and over 6,300 graduates, have made IGE’s excellence known all over the world.” She concluded, “The Institute will not stop here; it will continue to rise to the challenges.”

“Inaugurating at a time when everything seems to be collapsing.” It is with this statement, placed under the sign of optimism, that Prof. Salim Daccache started his speech. “Ever since its creation, IGE’s beautiful history and trajectory have been to carve out a specific mission and train future entrepreneurs, arming them with a great expertise in marketing, computer science, hotel management and culinary arts.”

“I can personally attest to the fact that many of the alumni of this Institute are shining in their professions and becoming leaders in their fields: in the headquarters of Google, at Murex and other major international fashion and hospitality companies. The challenges and changes in the markets have only made IGE programs more operational and adapted to overcome the difficulties,” he added.

For his part, Minister Walid Nassar said that “the Culinary Laboratory is an added value to the curriculum of hotel management. Students will be given the chance to learn the culinary techniques of excellence and develop their technical and managerial skills at the same time”.

“In a dynamic and job-creating sector, trainings dedicated to the hospitality sector have become vital, so as to train future leaders who can adapt to new technologies in the kitchen, while combining tradition and modernity in terms of cooking methods and recipe application,” he explained.

Mr. Abbas Halabi said, “the inauguration of the new premises is above all, a message of hope and an exhibition of faith in our country which has always been and will remain a land of creativity, vivacity and courage. We have no choice but to move forward by investing in our human capital, in an inclusive and humanistic approach; and this is the other mission to which USJ pays particular attention, motivated by its Jesuit vision that the human being comes first.”

The event ended with a tour of the new premises and the Culinary Laboratory.

IGE, which has been part of the Paul Bocuse alliance since 2016, is inaugurating this new Laboratory, which has been perfectly designed and built to be dedicated to practical training, with strict compliance to international hygiene and safety standards. It allows students to immediately put into practice, on individual workstations and workshops, the presentation of specific recipes provided to them beforehand on a screen by the professional chef in charge of teaching, be it in cooking or pastry.

In addition, the Laboratory is equipped with the best equipment that allows students to become familiar with how it works, using both traditional and modern techniques, such as convection and vacuum cooking, food preservation and refrigeration, etc.

Not only is the Laboratory fully adaptable to any form of culinary production, but it has also been specially designed to meet the standards for people with special needs. A room adjacent to the Laboratory, equipped just like a restaurant, allows students to complete their practical training in the art of table and bar service as part of their higher education studies in Hotel and Restaurant Management.

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Read more: Inauguration des nouveaux locaux de l’IGE et du Laboratoire culinaire de sa formation hôtelière