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"My Incentive for having founded the Hariri Foundation was grounded
in the belief that the universities and institutions of higher learning
in Lebanon admit Students with hidden talents and skills. And since man
is the wealth of the country, I feel that the best way to built Lebanon
is through man?s educational and cultural development and the
realization of his hidden talents."
With these words, Prime Minister Martyr Rafik Hariri identified the reasons behind establishing the Rafic Hariri Foundation by focusing on human development through education, so that the Lebanese community would attain knowledge, progress, and renovation.
The Rafik Hariri Foundation is the a national non-profit institution that proved to be fair and just with all its students, teachers, and employees, regardless of their religious beliefs or geographical distribution. Moreover, all its beneficiary students belong to the various religions and sects and come from all Lebanese districts. The foundation carried out a variety of cultural and developmental programs that led to the following accomplishments:
- Offering around 35 thousand Lebanese students with limited financial capabilities the opportunity to join reputable higher educational institutions inside Lebanon and abroad (universities in Europe, United States of America, and Canada). The majority of these students went through counseling and orientation programs to choose their appropriate field of study. Moreover, students with inadequate linguistic abilities were offered intensive language programs in collaboration with the American University of Beirut and some universities in France, as well as joining the preparatory year program organized by the Rafic Hariri Foundation in Lebanon.
- Affording high quality and subsidized education on both higher and technical levels via educational institutions of good reputation such as Lycee Abdel Kader and Hariri High School II (former Lebanon Evangelical School for Girls) that were about to close up due to the Lebanese war. The foundation also established new institutions to carry out the same mission that proved to demonstrate superiority in numerous fields (Rafik Hariri High School, Hajj Bahaa Eddine Hariri High School, Hariri High School III, a higher technical institution in collaboration with the Lebanese University-Saida, and the Hariri Canadian University).
- Realizing equal education opportunities for different Lebanese students regardless of their gender, religion, sect, or district through university grants, admitting students to its educational institutions, or recruiting teachers and instructors; abiding by the guidance of Prime Minister Martyr Hariri who insisted that his foundation should be a national, non-political, and non-sectarian institution.
- Encouraging and supporting cultural activities such as preserving archeological or traditional monuments and protecting the cultural heritage, organizing scientific conferences, in addition to arranging different educational seminars and publishing their outcomes to be distributed free of charge along with the reference books to all Lebanese schools.
- Providing a variety of social aids such as school grants for needy students and health benefits through the Hariri support program.
Establishing a department for social health with fifteen branches spreading all over the Lebanese districts with no discrimination as regards to religion or geographical distribution.
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