Social Engagement
Social Projects in Exchange for Scholarships / Credit
Hebrew University encourages and promotes student programs that involve social activism, and acts to increase student and faculty involvement within Israeli society.
Bachelor degree students can receive two credit points for social engagement if they join one of the university-approved organizations, subject to that organization’s prior approval. Such social activity is recognized for the purposes of receiving academic credit points only once during undergraduate studies and only if the student dedicates at least 40 hours to the organization (excluding training and traveling time).
Women’s Circles
Empowering female university students and strengthening the university's connections with some of Jerusalem’s female residents, the Women’s Circles program brings together these two groups for study, dialogue and social activities, run by the students. Both the students and the residents hail from diverse cultural backgrounds. The circles focus on women’s issues, human rights and leadership.
Winning Card
Some 500 high school students from disadvantaged populations in both East and West Jerusalem learn about medicine, business administration, law, and psychology at Hebrew University. Student volunteers from the university teach using innovative and interactive methods. The program aims to encourage teenagers to develop their creativity and curiosity and to create meaningful connections between the university and high school students.
Access for All
This program is designed for adults from problematic socio-economic backgrounds who were expelled from their previous schools and suffer from a considerable knowledge gap. Participants study at the university once a week, for the first time in their lives, in order to acquire essential and practical education in an academic setting. They take a special introductory course that has been adapted for them in law, business or psychology. Course lecturers are undergraduate students.
Perach – Helping Children Flourish
This mentoring program offers a wide range of active mentoring options in exchange for a tuition scholarship. These include: personal mentoring of children, helping high schoolers prepare for their matriculation exams, developing young leadership in neighborhoods, etc. Another option is to take part in mentoring projects in fields where the student has special knowledge, such as dentistry, art, theater and others.
OPI – Young People’s Programs
The OPI program (acronym for Active University in Jerusalem) is Hebrew University’s flagship social outreach program. It connects students with at-risk youth through a range of programs aiming to introduce the youth to higher education and both support and empower them.
LAHAV
This program is designed for graduates of the Winning Card program with good learning capabilities and both motivation and desire to commit to the program. Students who pass the first year of the Winning Card program take university courses, like regular students, and accumulate credit points that they can later apply to their undergraduate degrees. During the program, participants are assigned student mentors who studied or are still studying the relevant courses.
Israel Scholarship Education Foundation (ISEF)
ISEF is the oldest private scholarship fund in Israel and is both a social and Zionist organization. The foundation supports students pursuing undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees, offering extensive aid, beyond tuition. The program targets students who completed their service in the IDF or national service, come from Israel’s economic and social periphery, have a high potential of excelling academically and personally, and have a background or interest in social involvement.
Students receiving support from ISEF must participate in a social obligation and leadership program that has 15 meetings throughout the year and take part in an educational and community-based activity for 4 hours a week. They receive personal and academic mentoring and a large scholarship in partnership with Hebrew University.
Personal Mentoring
Personal mentoring involves students working with youth, either one-on-one or as a group. The goal is to improve the youths’ school performance, emotional state and personal abilities while creating a close relationship with a student who serves as a type of big brother or big sister.
Women Speaking Hebrew
Wanting to enable minority groups to speak Hebrew, some university students initiated and now teach spoken Hebrew to women from East Jerusalem, on a voluntary basis. Every week, more than 300 women come to the Mount Scopus campus and benefit from free courses.
Rothschild Ambassadors Program
The Rothschild Ambassadors program, established by the Rothschild Caesarea Foundation, trains the next generation of social and business leadership in Israel. This program is an excellent starting point for students who aspire to lead social change in Israel, are willing to work hard to succeed and want to be part of a select group at the forefront of Israel’s social and business agenda.
ProWoman
The ProWoman program is designed for female students who aspire to work in influential, senior-level positions and are starting out in their careers.
Young Female Politicians
This social-political initiative aims to provide high-quality professional tools on political issues to young women from Hebrew University who are interested in becoming part of Israel’s political world.
Adopt a Grandparent
In this project, students visit elderly people in their homes once a week in order to keep them company and help combat their loneliness.
Blend.Ar
Students in this program move to Abu Gosh for four weeks, learn and practice Arabic with students their age, and take part in a large variety of volunteer activities (mainly in Arabic) in the afternoons.
Politikal
Interested in making Israel’s civil society more involved and concerned about the political situation? As part of this program, students lead workshops in high schools in order to impart political knowledge from an objective perspective and in an experiential and interesting manner.
Lavie
In this project, student volunteers meet with patients at the Hadassah University Hospital at Mt. Scopus once a week for two hours. Small groups or individual musicians use music to provide patients with a pleasant break.
Mabruk
This project enables socioeconomically disadvantaged couples to have respectable weddings thanks to a community of volunteers. Wedding vendors provide their services free-of-charge and other volunteers help out with bartending and serving duties at the event.
Colors
This project aims to to temper the feelings of loneliness that exist among people with mental and developmental disabilities in the Arab community. It is suitable for students from every field of study and does not require any prior experience. The project includes personal supervision.
Hillel Projects
The Hillel Center at Hebrew University, part of Hillel Israel – the Israeli constituency of Hillel International, aims to strengthen the Jewish identity of Israeli students and to deepen their sense of belonging to the Jewish People by exposing them to the wide range of Jewish communities and identities that exist around the world.
Hillel’s two flagship programs are helping senior citizens with their pre-Shabbat shopping at the Mahane Yehuda market on Thursday afternoons and organizing communal Shabbat dinners on Friday evenings in the student dorms with guests from Israel and around the world.
The Hillel Center runs many additional special programs and events and we recommend visiting their website on a regular basis.