A hallmark of the OUI is its open admissions policy, which allows those seeking a higher education to choose from over 600 courses in bachelor's and master's degree programs. This unique approach to university admissions means that each undergraduate student is given the chance to prove his or her academic capability, while rigorous academic standards ensure a first-rate education. In order to prepare students for the challenging coursework, workshops in study skills, computer applications, English, math, and academic Hebrew are offered, encouraging success in our demanding academic environment. Among the 47,000 students currently studying at the OUI are IDF soldiers on active duty, gifted and excelling high school students, professionals seeking advanced degrees, ultra-Orthodox men and women, Druze, and Israeli Arabs. Many students take advantage of the OUI’s flexibility in order to work full time, while completing their degrees at a pace which allows them to succeed in all arenas. At the OUI, students are able to find their own personal catalyst for success in life. The OUI removes the barriers that can interfere with a student’s ability to fulfill his or her potential, and places success within reach of students possessing skills and determination.
For more about the OUI and the ultra-Orthodox sector, please see: http://www.timesofisrael.com/in-israel-a-new-generation-of-ultra-orthodox-jews-seek-integration/
Research is vital to knowledge in every realm of the academic setting. It enhances and broadens understandings of all matters, and subsequently serves society. Support for research, conducted by individual faculty members on their own initiative or within the framework of our research centers, is essential to the academic and social missions of the Open University.
The Research Center for Innovation in Learning Technologies functions as the research arm of The Open University of Israel for exploring emerging technologies and developing models and strategies for their integration in teaching and learning. The main objective of the center is to promote research related to the enhancement of instruction, using innovative learning technologies. The center consists of a consortium of approximately forty faculty members from various OUI departments. The center conducts a wide range of symposia, workshops, conferences, and research seminars, as well as collaborating with relevant international research centers. The center holds an annual conference presenting major research developments and best practices in the field.
See: http://www-e.openu.ac.il/innovation/
A new generation of studies in various social science disciplines reveals growing understanding among social scientists that the fields of policy, political economy, and society – once considered separate fields of studies – are actually inseparable. With this in mind, the OUI founded the Institute for Policy Analysis, as an interdisciplinary research entity. Based on studies by the institute's researchers, they are forging a shared scientific language of concepts, paradigms and models which will impact public discourse, both locally and internationally.
The Center for the Study of Relations between Jews, Christians, and Muslims focuses on scholarly research of the historical development and the current status of interreligious and intercultural relations. The center promotes interdisciplinary and interdepartmental research, and initiates joint academic ventures with researchers at other universities and research institutes in Israel and abroad.
A behavioral sciences lab has long served the research needs of the prestigious OUI Department of Psychology. Studies produced in the lab have gained international recognition. Growth in the department and an increased number of faculty members has compelled the OUI to expand lab operations to a location in Ramat Aviv, easily accessed by potential subjects. The new lab features eight state-of-the-art research labs, which will broaden the span of research and its contribution to the vibrant world of knowledge shared with OUI students and the academic world-at-large.
Infrastructure is in place for an investigative journalism clinic at the OUI. The clinic will provide a professional anchor for journalism in an academic setting. Excelling students in the department will have the opportunity to work as investigator journalists, and gain experience as they make the transition from the university incubator to real-life journalism.
In an attempt to close the widening gap between the information industry and the social sciences, media and information labs have been established at leading centers around the world. The uniqueness of these labs is drawn from the encounter between researchers from different disciplines sharing equipment, technologies, software, and other lab resources for conducting media-based, multidisciplinary studies about the social, organizational, and psychological impact of new media. The proposed Israel OMILAB will be a teaching and research entity which aims to bridge digital gaps between different population groups that result from socioeconomic gaps. Our goal is to cultivate basic digital research literacy among students, regardless of their social-cultural backgrounds.
The OUI, together with the Peamei Tikvah Fund and the Alumni Association of the IDF General Headquarters Commando Unit, launched Project Access: Ofakim, in 2014. The initiative facilitated access to higher education for residents of this development town in Israel's southern periphery by opening an OUI study center in the city.
The OUI, together with the Peamei Tikvah Fund and the Alumni Association of the IDF General Headquarters Commando Unit, launched Project Access: Ofakim, in 2014. The initiative facilitated access to higher education for residents of this development town in Israel's southern periphery by opening an OUI study center in the city. This was coupled with scholarships, individual mentoring, the use of learning technologies, and supervision by OUI staff and alumni of the elite General Headquarters Commando. In partnership with Jewish Federations of North America, the OUI proposes exploring replication of this successful model in the North American Federations' Partnership Communities in Israel.In the pilot program, new students registering for at least three courses were automatically entitled to scholarships for the first two. Scholarships have since been awarded on the basis of financial need and/or academic excellence. Sofia Rachmilov, 21, resides in Ofakim, and works at a local school. When the structured BA in Education and Teaching Methods was launched two years ago, she enrolled, on the advice of her boss. She knew that the convenience of location, combined with the scholarship, were too attractive to turn down. Still, at first she perceived it as a compromise of her "academic dream." Once it all began, however, reality took over. If she had thought she would miss out on the student experience, she quickly discovered otherwise. "I feel camaraderie with the other students," she says, as she praises the staff. “Their prompt responsiveness to every inquiry and their overall concern in general is amazing – and that raises the motivation to study.”. Rachmilov emphasizes how much the tutors contribute to the learning experience. All around her, says Rachmilov, she sees people fulfilling themselves and realizing their potential. Some of her fellow students would never have considered higher education were it not for this unique program. Rachmilov proudly reports that she was granted permission to enroll in more classes than required by the Ofakim project next semester so that she can make faster progress and complete her degree more quickly.
The Open University of Israel is the only institution authorized by the IDF to offer studies to soldiers on active duty.
Ariel Rosenberg, an OUI graduate student, has availed himself of the many benefits the OUI has to offer, and he gratefully acknowledges the scholarships which have made his studies possible. Ariel began studying for his bachelor's degree at the OUI seven years ago. As the sole supporter of his two children, he was employed full time in the field of education while completing a teaching certificate at the OUI. He is professionally committed to providing educational opportunities for others while he completes his own master’s degree, and serves as an educator and coordinator for a military preparatory program for select youth who choose to do a year of public service and skill development prior to enlistment in the IDF.
Rosenberg says that he “has only good things to say about the OUI," citing in particular the consideration extended to him, and the flexibility of the OUI when military operations compelled him to serve in the IDF reserves for extended periods of time throughout his studies.
The aim of this newly initiated project is to provide eligible undergraduate students of Ethiopian origin with a comprehensive package of tools, and the academic support needed to encourage self-actualization and to successfully cultivate their innate skills required for higher education and for productive entry into the labor market. The Student Authority of the Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption is supporting this effort.
Dror Sanbato is an Ethiopian-born OUI student who made aliyah when he was 18. Now 47, married, and the father of four, he lives in Netanya, and is employed as a lab technician. For years, Mr. Sanbato was disturbed by the fact that he did not have a degree. In 2010 he began studying towards a degree in public policy administration at the OUI, and currently has only two remaining seminar courses left to complete before receiving his diploma. The OUI offered the flexibility and advantages Mr. Sanbato needed to complete his studies. He was able to study independently, and attended tutorial sessions at study centers close to home, while continuing to work fulltime. He described the opportunity provided to him by the OUI as a “breakthrough,” and is grateful for the scholarships which made it possible for him to study at the OUI, realizing his dream of an academic degree.
The OUI, in tandem with the government of Israel, has placed higher education for ultra-Orthodox students high on its agenda in recent years. This reflects the national agenda of encouraging more ultra-Orthodox men to become integrated in the workforce. While members of the ultra-Orthodox community are typically dedicated students who demonstrate model study skills, oftentimes their Torah-education systems do not fulfill Israeli high school matriculation requirements. As a result, the OUI open admissions policy is their only option for immediate acceptance to a university without prerequisites. In order to fill in missing core academic subjects, workshops in English, mathematics, and computer applications are offered every year.
The OUI, in tandem with the government of Israel, has placed higher education for ultra-Orthodox students high on its agenda in recent years. This reflects the national agenda of encouraging more ultra-Orthodox men to become integrated in the workforce. While members of the ultra-Orthodox community are typically dedicated students who demonstrate model study skills, oftentimes their Torah-education systems do not fulfill Israeli high school matriculation requirements. As a result, the OUI open admissions policy is their only option for immediate acceptance to a university without prerequisites. In order to fill in missing core academic subjects, workshops in English, mathematics, and computer applications are offered every year.One of the scholarship tracks at the OUI for the ultra-Orthodox requires enrolling in employment-oriented degree programs, in fields of study not offered at the yeshivas where they continue to study. Students who have enrolled in these tracks have earned OUI degrees in computer science, psychology, education, management, and numerous other fields.The OUI seeks a partner for launching a new semester and full term of studies in this Scholarship Program. This initiative follows on the heels of a successful pilot program, funded in partnership with the Friedberg Charities, which offered 120 ultra-Orthodox men scholarships for supplementary workshops in academic English, mathematics, and computer applications, as well as tuition for their OUI courses for academic credits towards degrees.Support designated for scholarships for ultra-Orthodox students allows us to encourage new yeshiva students to register at the OUI.Eight years ago, a friend suggested to Shlomo Gruman that he consider studying at the Open University, since he would be accepted without a high school matriculation certificate or knowledge of English. With the added, and much needed, perk of tuition scholarships, Gruman put one foot into the academic world. He remained in the realm of the ultra-Orthodox yeshiva world, supporting his family with a clerical job. Ultimately, he completed a bachelor's degree in communication and sociology. He proceeded to a master's program at the OUI before transferring to Hebrew University to study Talmud – and to confront critical, academic scholarly interpretations of sacred texts to which he had always been exposed from a traditional viewpoint. Those attuned to the tensions between these worlds of study may find this surprising. Today, Gruman refers to the OUI as an institution that "saves people," not only technically, but by opening horizons. Gruman is a product of one of Jerusalem's most insular yeshivas, where he continues to study. Still, he places academic studies in the context of the importance attributed to education by Jewish tradition. A chord of this inherent tension reverberates when asking if he would like his children to study English – “a technical matter,” as he puts it, which can make the difference of thousands of shekels in one's salary. Although he would like this for his children, it remains beyond the limits of the education provided in the ultra-Orthodox world. As the Open University opens its doors to ultra-Orthodox students, it helps ensure that added aspects of education are made available to diverse cross- sections of Israeli society.
In accordance with the agenda of the Israeli government to enhance the inclusion of Israeli Arabs in mainstream Israeli society, the economy and the workforce, the OUI has instituted various options to encourage more Arab citizens to acquire higher education. OUI programs reduce geographical and language barriers. Arab students at the OUI have the option of participating in workshops aimed at easing the transition from studying in Arabic (as is practiced in Israeli-Arab high schools) to studying in academic Hebrew. In addition, in some entry-level courses, tutorial sessions are conducted in Arabic. These efforts to accommodate Arabic-speaking students, coupled with scholarships, serve to encourage enrollment of Arab students at the OUI.
Gifted high school students with outstanding scholastic achievements can get a jumpstart on their higher education at the OUI, while continuing their social development in a high school setting. Some of these students manage to complete their entire bachelor's degree at the OUI while still in high school. Others receive draft deferments from the IDF in order to finish their degrees, or continue their studies during their military service. Scholarships help highly motivated and talented high school students take giant academic strides at the OUI.
Special access programs for OUI students are largely made possible by the scholarships we offer. Financial aid is an essential component for many students in the targeted populations, just as it is for numerous other OUI students.
In 2013, a center was inaugurated at the OUI’s Ramat Aviv campus which makes it possible for over 600 OUI students with disabilities or special learning needs to realize their academic potential. Sophisticated assistive devices are offered, including smart boards, which transfer white board notes directly to students' computers, programs which magnify and "read" texts, and portable audio systems and closed-circuit TVs which allow students with impaired vision to magnify text. The OUI is constantly exploring new opportunities and participating in new projects to facilitate the success of students with disabilities of all kinds.
In 2013, the OUI initiated an annual national conference on Internet accessibility for people with impairments, serving to advance the government standards introduced by law in October 2013.
Students who have proven their academic skills and capabilities often need support to stay on the path towards a degree. Every year, at least 600-800 students discontinue their studies, despite demonstrated academic capability, motivation, and a high level of persistence in their studies. The single most frequent cause has been found to be financial hardship. The OUI remains committed to helping students through the process from access to success through its retention project.
Technology is essential to the success of contemporary higher education, and the OUI is the trailblazer for distance learning in Israel's higher education arena. For more than a decade, the OUI has been pursuing the development, evaluation, research, and integration of technology-based innovations for its courses through Shoham – The Center for Integrating Technology in Distance Education.
Shoham is the hub of OUI educational technology, assisting with its assimilation into the teaching system. Together with the OUI Research Center for Innovation in Learning Technologies, Shoham engages in studies addressing multiple aspects of educational technology use. Extensive experience in combining technologies with teaching allows the OUI to provide fertile ground for generating research, and make continued contributions to this perpetually developing field.
Technological advancements at the OUI, together with the evaluation and integration of feedback from students and faculty produce continually improved environments for OUI courses. Video recorded lectures are among the latest features of course websites. This innovative course environment now allows students to choose between viewing and listening at five speeds. All features can be activated from any device and browser.
The challenge of developing identical printed and digital texts requires that references to online materials be accessible from printed versions of course books. The solution lies in the development of a new model in which a bi-dimensional barcode can be scanned from the printed text and, with a smartphone application, can lead the student quickly to the relevant online resources.