An Impressive Achievement for the “Gateway to Academia” Program for Integration of Bedouin Students from the Negev Into Higher Education
385 students were enrolled in the 2018/19 academic year, in the first year of the “Gateway to Academia” program that was expanded to southern institutions of higher education, after 3 years of a successful pilot program at the Sapir Academic College.

Breakdown by Educational Institution of the Students who Started the Program in the 2018/19 Academic Year :
1. Achva Academic College: 98 students
2. Sapir Academic College: 88 students
3. Ben Gurion University: 111 students
4. The Open University: 50 students
5. Ashkelon Academic College: 38 students

The data demonstrate that the program’s expansion has achieved its targets. Within one year, the number of students enrolled in the Gateway to Academia year jumped from approximately 100 students (2017/18) to 385 students (2018/19).

Chair of the Planning and Budgeting Committee, Prof. Yaffa Zilbershats: “The impressive increase in the number of Bedouin students enrolled in the Gateway to Academia year demonstrates the success of the program and that with the help of personal guidance and economic and academic support, it is possible to remove obstacles and open the gates of higher education to everyone. In the last few years, the number of Arab students enrolled in higher education has doubled, but among the Bedouin population in the Negev, the numbers are significantly lower and are unsatisfactory. Israeli academia is key to narrowing gaps and facilitating social mobility, to employment and integration into Israeli society. To this end, the PBC will invest significant resources in the coming years in integrating Bedouin students into academia, with an emphasis on courses of study necessary for professions for which there is market demand.”

The “Gateway to Academia” Program operated over three years as a pilot program at the Sapir Academic College and, following its success, it was expanded this year (2018/19) to four additional academic institutions. In anticipation of the start of the academic year, institutions, with the assistance of the Rowad program, held open houses, seminars, and evening informational sessions in Bedouin villages in the Negev in order to increase awareness of the matter.
The data demonstrate that the program’s expansion has achieved its targets and within one year, the number of students enrolled in the Gateway to Academia year jumped from approximately 100 students (2017/18) to 385 students (2018/19).

The uniqueness of the “Gateway to Academia” program is that it splits the first year of studies in two and provides extensive support during the course of the entire degree program until its completion. The first year, the “Gateway to Academia” year, program participants learn separately in small groups with the goal of softening the entry of Bedouin students into academia and facilitating the closing of gaps in preparation for integration into the regular academic framework. During this year, emphasis is placed on reinforcing language skills in Hebrew and English and study skills, as well as taking academic courses for approximately one quarter of an academic year. Additionally, students receive broad individual, social, cultural, and economic support in order to ease their integration into academia.
Accordingly, students who are enrolled in the program will be entitled to academic and linguistic reinforcement, tutoring, individual guidance, economic support, transportation, social and cultural activities, and more throughout their degree studies.