Dr. Michel A. Khoury, Director of Eastwood International Schools and Eastwood Global Online School located in Switzerland, is no stranger to the inner workings of education.
Starting at the ground level — managing everything from admissions to food services — Khoury mastered every facet of school operations. By 2012, he was ready to lead the school. “I think I can do this now,” he told his father, who handed over the keys and stepped back.
EdDesig Mag talked with Dr. Michel A. Khoury on how to set up the first online school in the region and to make the homeschooling format comfortable to each of the process participants, but also how to re-imagine the traditional offline learning.
Pioneering Digital Learning
— I always wanted to bring a technological aspect to schooling in Lebanon. It was 2011 when the iPad came out. I started reaching out to a bunch of publishers across the Middle East, but no one was interested in publishing books for the iPAD. So we actually scanned our manuals and worksheets and turned them into PDFs. We tested the usability with a small group of 4 kids in grade 10. And then delivered around 200 iPads and made first steps in digital learning.
One day, one of our best students got seriously ill and hospitalized in the United States. His family begged us to continue his education while he was hospitalized. He used the scanned books, we downloaded Skype and arranged online lessons with teachers three times a week. That was the turning point for us that changed how we thought about education.
We started recording all of our classes in a small studio we built inside the school and uploaded them to Apple’s iTunes U platform. The Eastwood College channel offered full courses for grades 9 through 12, enabling students to review or catch up at their own pace — a foundation for flexible, technology-driven learning.
Thriving Through Crisis
— When COVID hit, were you fully prepared for the challenges it brought?
In 2023, the International Baccalaureate (IB) opened a proposal for schools worldwide to submit their applications if they wanted to offer online programs. We decided to apply. Among 400 to 500 applicants, Eastwood was one of the first five selected. A year later, when our first cohort had completed, we created Eastwood Global because we truly want to become global and put it as a part of our identity and no longer be limited by geography.
Crafting Quality Online Education
— Could you please tell some more about how the online learning process is organized and the challenges you meet?
— Running an online school is challenging. It gets more challenging as the number of students grows. To preserve the quality we keep our class sizes very small: about 8 to 10 students per class. In addition to small classes, we provide constant follow-up. Our teachers are present and engaged. There’s ongoing support every step of the way.
Every course is professionally pre-recorded in a studio — complete with all the notes, learning rubrics, and assessments. Our standard and higher-level students are online for about 18 to 20 hours per week — a flexible alternative to the traditional 35-hour school week. This structure empowers students to balance education with other pursuits while maintaining academic rigor.
— Do you offer online to elementary students?
— We offer a Homeschooling Plus Program. This program addresses a global trend, particularly in the U.S., where 7 million elementary students are homeschooled, partly due to safety concerns. We’re offering something very special for homeschooling families. Normally, you register with a school, which sends you textbooks, handbooks, coursework — and then it’s up to the parents to educate their child. But many parents are working, don’t have the time, or simply don’t have the patience for it.
In terms of the Homeschooling Plus we’ll still send all the materials, but in addition, your child will spend an hour a day with a dedicated homeroom teacher to go over lesson plans, ask questions, and get structured support. The responsibility is now shared between the school and the parents — and we’ve seen great success with this approach.
For families opting out of traditional schools entirely, Eastwood Global’s full-time online elementary program delivers core subjects to students in rural or urban settings, ensuring access to quality education.
Global Expansion and a Hybrid Future
— Online learning is surely one of the major trends, but how do you keep your offline campuses up to date?
— We have two campuses in Beirut, but now we’re ready to expand internationally: a new campus opens in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, this September, followed by Baghdad in 2026. Eastwood has also acquired Switzerland’s oldest boarding school, set to become Eastwood Montreux in 2026 after renovations. Also next year, we will open our new flagship campus in Beirut called Eastwood Nova. It’s a part of the Eastwood International Schools family, but Eastwood Nova is special because we’re fully re-imagining the processes.
To support this growth, Eastwood will be restructured into the Eastwood Group, a holding company with dedicated heads for academics, operations, marketing, finance, and strategy. This enables a hybrid model, blending top local resources with global teaching talent to deliver a unique academic experience.
— Could you tell some words about Eastwood Nova? What is so special about it?
— We’ve developed a program that encompasses five key elements. The 5 important elements that we think every child should know: space exploration and emerging technology; personal finance; social media and ethics; green spaces, architecture, and sustainability; longevity.
Space exploration and emerging tech: these innovations are already being built today in fields like AI, robotics, and materials science. So it’s not just about space itself; it’s about understanding the technologies that are shaping our world today and will continue to do so in the future. AI, for example, is already becoming second nature: it’s in our phones, computers, it is the tool we use every day.
Longevity: we teach the different complexities of wellness, of longevity. You want to live longer, you want to be a better human — you need to learn functional biology, on an everyday level you need to know how to count calories and to read labels on products.
Green spaces and architecture: extremely important because the world is getting dirtier and smaller. Learn how to preserve it and to build for the future, learn about the new types of concrete that can grow moss on it, helping generate more oxygen and reduce carbon dioxide. Learn how to create spaces for the communities, for public areas.
Social media and ethics: is about learning within certain parameters and guidelines to build brand equity, because every person nowadays has brand equity, brand capital, an identity for himself or herself. And this identity cannot be deleted. We teach children from a young age that whatever they put online is there forever, we make them aware of the ethical implications. We introduce them to cyberbullying, and cover all ethical aspects, a full 360-degree approach to ethics.
Entrance exams break from tradition too — for example, students might be asked to design a space station using Legos, prioritizing creativity over rote memorization.
By aligning its physical and academic environment with these themes, Eastwood Nova is set to redefine education for a new generation.
Cover photo: Priscilla Du Preez / Unsplash.
July 2025
