The "Ofakim" program for training engineers from the periphery was opened at the Technion

100 young men and women, released from the IDF from the periphery, from the Jewish and Druze sectors, lacking university admission data, began their studies at a special preparatory school

The "Ofakim" program was launched at the Technion and will be extended to other universities in Israel, in the scientific-technological track.

The new program will allow residents of the periphery, IDF discharges, who lack admission data to universities - to acquire an academic education in the fields of science and technology.

The Ministry of Defense, through the fund and the unit for the orientation of discharged soldiers, locates suitable IDF discharges in the peripheral settlements, and directs them to join the preparatory school, which will qualify them for admission to all faculties at the Technion, even if they do not have a matriculation certificate.

Participants in the program will receive full funding, including tuition and a living stipend. The program is organized in its initial stages by the Technion and financed through the foundation and the unit for the guidance of discharged soldiers in the Ministry of Defense, the Association for the Advancement of Education, the Rashi Foundation, the Gross Foundation and the Electronics and Software Industries Association.

The initiator of the program is Yehuda Zisafel, president of the Red Binat Group and chairman of the Electronics and Software Industries Association. "The vision of the 'Ofakim' program is to add professional and quality personnel from the periphery to the high-tech industry and thereby contribute to reducing the social and economic gap between the periphery and the center," he says. "Leading talented youth to academic studies in the fields of engineering and science, while providing financial, educational and social support - will allow them to build a worthy personal future and at the same time will strengthen Israel's economy, the peripheral areas and help reduce the gaps in Israeli society. We believe that upon completion of their studies there will again be a huge demand for engineers and scientists and that the advanced industry will continue to be the driving force behind the Israeli economy."
The heads of the program intend to contact the state authorities in order to help finance the expansion of the program on a national scale and to reach 1500 graduates every year.