Nurturing Young Leaders & Entrepreneurs
'MAI' Urban Center for Activism, Leadership & Youth Innovation
The center utilizes university students to strengthen teenagers’ connections with Jerusalem by encouraging activism and critical thinking. The center runs various groups, including activism through art, volunteering in neighborhoods and municipal youth council activities.
Matriculation in Technological Entrepreneurship
Aiming to encourage high school students to develop their technological skills, the university created a business administration matriculation program in Jerusalem that focuses on technological entrepreneurship. Participants develop a technological idea and present it to industry leaders and university faculty. Their high school teachers receive academic support from the Hebrew University Business School throughout the academic year. The Hebrew University Business School, in collaboration with the Director of Education in Jerusalem, developed the program.
El-Bassha'er Program for Excellence in East Jerusalem
The El-Bassha'er program aims to foster leadership among high school students from East Jerusalem, in social skills and science. 80 outstanding students from East Jerusalem study science at the Hebrew University for Youth Unit, at the Edmond J. Safra campus. The students also learn Hebrew and become familiar with the academic lifestyle, the university environment, and broader Israeli society.
Teenage Entrepreneurs
High-school students learn how to develop ideas and launch business initiatives in a summer course run by ASPER-HUJI Innovate. The would-be entrepreneurs gain exposure both to academic life and to Hebrew University’s breakthrough technologies.
Youth Centers
Hebrew University Youth Division
The Heberw University Youth Divison for the Advancement of Science Education aims engage and connect teenagers to science through activities on university campuses, in schools, and in community centers. More than 80,000 students participate in these activities each year, some of which are catered for teenagers from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.
Programs for high school students include:
- Special classes for science students from Jerusalem at the university’s state-of-the-art laboratories.
- University summer science camps, where teenagers gain access to high-level fun-filled science.
- Future Scientists programs for outstanding students to take academic and research courses.
- Odyssey annual program for 70 outstanding students from the Jerusalem area, offering a four-year academic track focusing on science, mathematics, and physics, in parallel to their high school studies.
- Alpha program for 90 outstanding students every year to conduct research in university laboratories. Their research grades are recognized as part of their matriculation certificate.
- IDEA research project for students in the humanities and social sciences.
- Colony on Mars − Space R&D program, where high school students engage in research on astronomy and the possibility of human existence on Mars.
Belmonte Science Laboratories Center
The center advances the science education of both high school students and their teachers and provides access to cutting-edge physics, chemistry and biology laboratories for some 15,000 students each year. The center also hosts annual science conferences where students and teachers learn in greater depth about their field from leading university researchers.
Joseph Meyerhoff Youth Center for Advanced Studies
The center helps make academic education accessible for teenagers from all sectors of Israeli society. Its activities include courses, enrichment classes, seminars, and science camps during holidays and summer vacations. The university’s graduate students teach at the center.
Programs include:
- Infinity Program – Encourages Ethiopian-Israeli students in middle school to excel in science, technology, and social sciences.
- Da Vinci Program – An enrichment program for 9th grade students in exact sciences, technology and the humanities.
- Science in the Periphery – Middle-school students from Israel’s periphery benefit from a range of science programs, adapted to their abilities and interests. The programs aim to encourage and guide teenagers (from Ashdod, Lod, Kiryat Ekron, Kiryat Malachi, Rahat, Sderot and Yavne) to pursue their science education at a higher level in high school.
- Jerusalem Robotics Program – Exposes young students to the world of engineering and its challenges as they build an autonomous robot to perform various tasks.
- Science and ‘Halacha’ – Ultra-Orthodox pupils learn about the academic world and exact sciences and take part in discussions about the science-‘halacha’ interface.
'Bikurim' Youth Village for Excellence in the Arts
The 'Bikurim' youth village promotes excellence in the arts. Located in the south of the country, children from all over Israel, and especially from the periphery, study and live together and have the opportunity to realize their potential in the arts. A faculty member of the university's Faculty of Humanities helped establish the youth village.
An Inquisitive Mind – Encouraging Student Curiosity
Middle school and high school students from Jerusalem gain a glimpse into the exciting world of neuroscience in this unique enrichment program, initiated by the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences. Faculty members and doctoral students at the center teach the students about brain anatomy, neuronal activity, sensory function and brain research, using interactive methods.
Scientific & Medical Enrichment
Teacher-Researcher
In order to enhance the study of science in Jerusalem, the university enables high school science teachers to become part-time researchers at Hebrew University. In this unique program, initiated by the Racah Institute of Physics faculty members, teachers work half-time as researchers in the university's laboratories, thus enriching their high school teaching with their research activities.
Pharming Excellence
Aiming to attract children from Israel’s periphery to the world of pharmacy and chemistry, volunteer faculty members and research students at the university's School of Pharmacy explain basic chemistry and pharmacy in schools in Or Akiva and Yokneam.
Promoting Women in Technology – QueenB
The unique QueenB program, founded by Hebrew University graduates, aims to build self-confidence and encourage women to pursue a computer science degree and a high-tech career. Female computer science students teach programming to 8th grade girls. The program also strengthens the social networks of the volunteer students.
Open Minds – Neuroscience for Arabs & Ultra-Orthodox Jews
This program seeks to expose high school students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds in Jerusalem to the world of neuroscience, especially in the ultra-orthodox and eastern neighborhoods of Jerusalem. Initiated by faculty at the university's Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, the program is also open to disadvantaged teenagers elsewhere in Israel and even in Ethiopia.
A Travelling Introduction to Science
University faculty members and research students travel across Israel, sharing their research with schools via introduction-to-science lectures.
Physics for High Schools
The university's Racah Institute of Physics faculty share their enthusiasm for physics with teenagers as they lecture in high schools on a variety of physics topics, on a voluntary basis.
Between Imagination & Reality – Activities for Biology Majors
High school students majoring in biology delve deep in the field by meeting with peers, university researchers, and doctoral students. The students gain an understanding of the theoretical questions underlying neuroscience research, are exposed to the latest technological developments, and learn about university laboratory research. These hands-on activities take place at the university's Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences and are conducted in collaboration with the Science and Technology Department of Jerusalem Municipality's Education Administration.
Young Scientists
Elementary school children enjoy a touch of science as they conduct microbiology experiments in the university's teaching laboratories at the Faculty of Medicine. Faculty students volunteer in the program and provide instruction and guidance to the children.
Winning Card – Active Learning
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.
Snunit Association for Advancement of Online Education
Founded by Hebrew University, the Snunit Association has become one of the country's main learning and teaching resources. Snunit is a nonprofit organization located at the Edmond J. Safra campus that specializes in developing experiential learning environments. It promotes online learning in schools and has created hundreds of unique technological innovations in education.
Frontiers for Young Minds – Scientific Journal for Youth
The Frontiers for Young Minds online journal makes cutting-edge scientific discoveries available to younger audiences. On a voluntary basis, distinguished scientists write about their research using language that is both exciting and accessible for young readers. In turn, the teenagers – with the help of their science mentors – edit the articles and provide feedback. Faculty at the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences founded this special journal.
Student Mentor Programs
Towards Higher Education
Teenagers from East Jerusalem take academic courses at the university free of charge and gain credits towards a degree. The program both exposes them to higher education and creates opportunities for them in academic studies.
'Perach' – Helping Children Flourish
Some 600 university students mentor children in need of educational and emotional support. The volunteer students are eligible for a tuition scholarship.
'Tnufa' – Final Science Project Guidance
Students from the Faculty of Medicine provide guidance for high school students in completing their final science projects. They connect the teenage students with university faculty from all fields of theoretical and experimental scientific research and provide professional and social support. This nationwide program was initiated by students from the Faculty of Medicine.
Final Biotechnological Project Guidance
Initiated by the Faculty of Medicine, this program is available for high school students in Mevaseret Zion, just outside Jerusalem, who major in biotechnology. Faculty and researchers at the university's Faculty of Medicine mentor the students, help them conduct laboratory experiments, and try out scientific research in order to help them complete their final projects. Additionally, the researchers host high school students from Jerusalem in their laboratories, guide them in research work, and give lectures at the high school classrooms.
'Nitzotzot' – Igniting the Spark
In this special program that encourages school children to develop and actively fulfill their individual interests, faculty from the university’s Veterinary School and Veterinary Hospital conduct hands-on animal care activities with children whose interests are sparked by animals.
Promoting Mathematical Thinking
Elementary school children in Netivot, a town in Israel’s periphery, enjoy activities in mathematical thinking. This develops their numeracy, problem solving skills, and their understanding of shapes and measures. The program was initiated by a Master’s degree student at the Faculty of Humanities.