There has been a clear rise in interest in software engineering in Lebanon in recent years.
Factors ranging from tech communities to the worst financial crisis in modern history have contributed to this shift.
The financial crisis that hit the country along with the pandemic pushed more students towards tech, which offers a practical gateway to dollar-denominated and remote-friendly employment.
Through my presence at events and as an active member of the local tech community, I had a feeling that more software engineering students were graduating each year.
In the absence of nationwide data on this topic, Supportful reached out to all universities offering computer science or computer engineering programs.
We collected data on the number of graduates in both computer engineering and computer science between 2018 and 2024, a period that covers the severe economic crisis Lebanon went through.
The findings are quite interesting and can be summarized as follows:
Between 2019 and 2023, the total number of software engineering graduates in Lebanon rose from 1,259 to 2,104, a 67% increase in just four years.
I believe the double-digit growth in the number of software engineering graduates is closely tied to the financial crisis that began in 2019 and to the disruption caused by the pandemic.
As traditional sectors were heavily affected, many students started viewing software engineering as a gateway to remote-friendly and resilient careers.
Even in 2024, with partial university data available, graduate numbers continued to rise by 16% compared to 2023, confirming that momentum has not slowed.
When we look at the figures in each university between their first and last reported years (since not all institutions provided data for the same time range), the results show triple-digit growth at several universities, such as BAU (347%), LAU (254%), and LIU (225%).
Across Lebanon, year-over-year growth sustained a double-digit expansion throughout the period, peaking in 2020 at 18.9%.
Female participation in software engineering in Lebanon remains one of the country’s strongest differentiators.
Women consistently represent between 27% and 30% of software engineering graduates, a level higher than in both the United States (22%) and France (17%).
In absolute terms, the number of female graduates increased from 347 in 2019 to 597 in 2023, a growth rate of 72%, outpacing male graduate growth over the same period (67%).
The appeal of software engineering for Lebanese women is closely linked to the flexibility offered in the tech industry. Research indicates that women often value workplace flexibility because many of them are primary caregivers.
With a steadily growing talent pipeline, Lebanon is becoming a competitive hub for outsourcing and remote software development.
The country combines three major advantages: rapid graduate growth, strong academic foundations, and relatively high female participation.
With universities producing over 2,000 software engineering graduates every year, and with talent increasingly aligned to global market needs, Lebanon offers international companies an English-speaking and technically strong workforce.
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