Goal To enable talented pupils from the southern region continue on to university.

Overview The number of young adults from peripheral southern localities attending universities in general, and Ben-Gurion University in particular, is far lower than their proportion of the total population. Similarly, they are under-represented in the prestigious IDF academic reserve, and in technological units of the intelligence and other corps. For this reason, Ben-Gurion University, the Education Ministry, Atidim (of the IDF) and Sacta-Rashi jointly launched a program to make significant changes in this situation. Operated as part of the Madarom project to advance science and technology education in the southern region, the Access to Higher Education program aims to raise the matriculation performance of high school pupils from the south so that they can gain acceptance to university on a par with pupils from the center of the country. In this way, the program seeks to redress the chronic under-representation of southern residents at university, and in particular in the most competitive courses.

Operation In the current school year, some 1,000 pupils are participating in the program, from the southern localities of: Mitzpe Ramon, Dimona, Ofakim, Be'er Sheva, Arad, Rahat, Eilat, Tel Sheva, Kiryat Gat, Kiryat Malachi,Yeruham, Lakia, Kseifa, Sderot and Netivot. Educational activity takes place in two settings: the classroom and the university. In school, the pupils benefit from a system of tutoring and educational reinforcement in math, English, physics, science and technology. On Fridays, which is usually not a school day, the pupils are transported to Ben-Gurion University, where they attend two courses. This is in order to introduce the youngsters to university not merely as a concept and goal, but also to familiarize them with the buildings, staff and students of a real university, as well as to the norms and expectations of university life.

Sacta-Rashi's Involvement Roughly 1/4 of annual budget Operation via the Association for Change in Education

Partners Ministry of Education Atidim Ben-Gurion University