Beirut Arab University Employee Housing and Housing Support

SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

THE Impact Rankings indicator 11.4.4 | Beirut Arab University, Lebanon

Response to the indicator

Question: Does your university as a body provide affordable housing for employees?

Yes, with a defined scope. Beirut Arab University (BAU) provides staff accommodation at Debbieh and publishes a housing allowance provision for seconded academic staff. These establish employee housing and targeted assistance with housing costs. The evidence supports this qualified response rather than an entitlement to free or subsidised accommodation for every employee.

Evidence: BAU current description of staff housing at Debbieh

Evidence: Academic staff housing allowance provision (PDF page 4, section 2 on allowances)

Accommodation & Dorms

Being away from your home can be a challenging experience. Students living away from their homes and studying in Beirut or Tripoli Campuses can rent a girls-only or boys-only shared or private apartment from various local renters in these regions. Rent is usually paid yearly (two installments) and varies according to location, size, and students sharing the apartment.

Students studying in Debbieh Campus may select between the University dorms, which are located inside campus and are two minutes away from the University parking area or local renters in the area.

BAU’s Debbieh Dorms are safe, comfortable, and relaxing. BAU has allocated two separate buildings: one for boys and one for girls. There are 127 rooms available for boys and 67 rooms available for girls. The dorm rooms range from single to double occupancy.

Room Types and Prices

Debbieh Campus comprises two separate dorms: the girls’ dorms and the boys’ dorms. These are two buildings located inside the campus in close proximity to the parking lot. The dorms encompass a mini-market which includes basic needs of students and a private gym for students enrolled in the dorms. Our student dorms are all self-catered.

Academic staff housing allowance provision

The evidence supporting the response

Housing availability and housing affordability should be demonstrated together. A university residence confirms provision; its rent, included services or subsidy establishes the financial benefit. A housing allowance directly addresses costs, but its present application and the beneficiaries covered should be documented for the submission year.

Employee accommodation at Debbieh

Current university confirmation

BAU’s current Debbieh page identifies two staff dormitory buildings, separately from student residences. This explicit designation provides direct institutional evidence of employee accommodation. Student housing is not used to infer staff provision.

Evidence: Debbieh campus staff dormitory buildings (Opening campus description)

Dated corroboration within the review period

The campus travel study published on 23 September 2024 also identifies two buildings for staff accommodation at Debbieh. Its study-area description separately identifies student dormitories. This provides dated corroboration within the 2021 to 2026 period.

Evidence: Original 2024 study (Section 4, Description of the Study Area)

Evidence: Publisher PDF with the staff accommodation description (PDF page 9)

The Faculty of Engineering lists this publication on BAU’s own website. The publication record supplies institutional provenance for the research. The study describes campus infrastructure; it does not report staff rental prices, numbers of occupied apartments or a housing subsidy calculation.

Evidence: BAU engineering publication record

What the accommodation evidence means

University-provided housing can help employees locate near their workplace and reduce the need to arrange separate accommodation. These are potential practical benefits of on-campus provision. Their monetary value depends on the actual terms offered to residents. An affordability assessment should therefore specify the amount an employee pays and which services are included, rather than assume that university ownership makes the residence free.

Campus and residence coverage

Debbieh is documented; the two-building count does not establish apartment capacity, occupancy or arrangements at other campuses. Current inventory and allocation records are needed to report beneficiary totals.

Evidence: BAU current campus description

Current facilities information and dated research are complementary sources. Financial terms remain necessary to assess affordability.

Evidence: Dated campus infrastructure corroboration (PDF page 9)

Housing cost assistance for academic staff

The published allowance provision

BAU’s faculty benefits booklet provides the following housing rule, translated from Arabic: “Seconded academic staff are paid a housing allowance of $1,000 per month.”

Evidence: Original Arabic faculty benefits booklet (PDF page 4, first bullet under section 2)

The beneficiary category is المعارين, meaning seconded staff. It does not extend eligibility to all international recruits or all employees.

Evidence: Beneficiary category in the original provision (PDF page 4)