ABSTRACT
The American University of Beirut (AUB) has played an important role in the Arab world at large as well as in the life of Lebanon; it has helped to promote 'modernization', and it has produced many of the area's technicians and political leaders. The university is the property of the board of trustees which in 1975 included among its 25 members several eminent Lebanese, but most of the members were Americans. In the field of higher education in the Arab world in general AUB by the 1970s had competition from national universities in most Arab countries, including some in Saudi Arabia which benefit from virtually unlimited financial resources. AUB remained a functioning institution during the Civil War in the most difficult circumstances. Ultimately the future of AUB depends, of course, on the people of the Middle East, the Lebanese in particular, and upon the destiny they choose, or, more likely, the destiny they are allotted, in the course of time.
