Programs
The Tomorrow’s Leaders (TL) Program, sponsored by the Department of State’s U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) supports capable and highly motivated young scholars from under-resourced backgrounds in the Middle and North African (MENA) region by providing a fully funded undergraduate and graduate level academic matriculation, civic education, and leadership development. The full-coverage scholarship aims to invest in Arab youth’s capacity to strengthen their leadership skills to become drivers of change and to catalyze social progress in their home community. The overarching goal of the program is to foster tomorrow’s leaders and change agents who yearn to improve the lives of their fellow citizens and seek to build democratic and economically sustainable communities in the MENA region, with an eagerness for an American-style education and positive connections to the United States.
Tomorrow’s Leaders Undergraduate (TLU) Program
The Tomorrow’s Leaders Undergraduate (TLU) Program was established in 2008 at LAU under the MEPI initiative. TLU recipients have the opportunity to pursue an undergraduate degree in selected fields at LAU.
The TLU program builds a cadre of professional leaders equipped to take on leadership roles in business, government, and become national leaders of the future in their communities. The program enables students from the MENA region who are academically qualified but are unable to afford American-style higher education to gain leadership skills and develop a spirit of civic engagement and volunteerism by enrolling in an American-style university with regional U.S. accreditation.
Additionally, students can choose to spend a semester studying at renowned universities in the United States. The program emphasizes community service engagement, encouraging students to participate in workshops, and internships, both locally and internationally.
Tomorrow’s Leaders Graduate (TLG) Program
In 2018, LAU MEPI introduced the Tomorrow’s Leaders Graduate (TLG) Program, the first of its kind in the MENA region. The Tomorrow’s Leaders Graduate Program (TLG) supports academically qualified and under resourced students by providing graduate study to gain skills necessary to create positive impacts in their communities and become productive members of the workforce in the region. The TL program will equip students with the professional qualifications and experience needed to advance knowledge and contribute to the achievement of socially relevant outcomes, through organized graduate study and research that furthers the professionalization of emerging leaders and proposes local solutions to shared problems at U.S. accredited institutions of higher learning based in the MENA region.
Tomorrow’s Leaders College to Work Pipeline (TLP)
In 2021, the U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) introduced the Tomorrow’s Leaders College-to-Work Pipeline (TLP) project in collaboration with the American University of Beirut (AUB) and Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). The TLP project aims to provide a clear pathway to gainful employment for currently enrolled TL students. It assists students in connecting with potential employers and maximizing their employability in the MENA region.