The sophisticated fashion sense one sees on the streets of the Lebanese capital is one of the country’s assets—and some talented young people in Lebanon are finding ways to make a career out of it, with the help of a social enterprise called the Starch Foundation. More...

It was September 2011 when Hasan Raad was admitted to the medical school at Al-Baath University in Homs, Syria.
The city was at the center of the uprising that led to Syria’s continuing civil war, and conditions there were already starting to deteriorate, as violence flared between government troops and armed opponents. The university, next to the Baba Amr neighborhood, one of the most affected parts of the city, kept classes going, but had to make accommodations for the many students who found it difficult to attend. More...

Students and their families here have long been unhappy with the importance placed on a single, pass-fail high-school exit exam that determines who gets into a university and what they can study. More...

A visitor wouldn’t know it from his humble office, but Joe Tekli, a computer engineer at the Lebanese American University’s campus in Byblos, has lofty aims for his research career. He wants to tidy up the entire online world, making it a more logical and efficient place. More...

Mohamed Osman Elkhosht is sympathetic to President El-Sisi’s drive for what he calls a “new religious discourse” envisioning a contemporary Islam that is open to scientific breakthroughs and tolerant of other faiths. More...

The youths were playing on a free day at a training center of the Union of Technicians for Unemployed Young People (Union des Techniciens en Faveur des Jeunes Désoeuvrés), a nongovernmental organization that is trying to help reintegrate former child soldiers into society. More...

Raneem Zarzar was only 16 when her three brothers and one sister left Syria and made their way to Europe as refugees. Her parents tried to persuade her to join her brothers, who eventually settled in Germany and the Netherlands, but she refused. More...

Five years have passed since Mohammed el-Sayed graduated from the Industrial Secondary School’s electricity department in Assiut, 350 kilometers south of Cairo. Contrary to his expectations, he hasn’t been able to get a job in his specialty. More...

Setting up a new university in an Arab country is a complex, elaborate affair subject to detailed government regulation, according to the results of a survey conducted by Al-Fanar Media. But the survey also found that after licenses are issued, government follow-up to check educational quality is usually weak or nonexistent. More...

Georges Nasr, the moviemaker and film teacher who turned 90 years old this year, is often viewed as the father of Lebanese cinema. His film “Ila Ayn” (Whither?)  is widely considered to have put Lebanon on the map of global movie-making. More...