- Argentina
In order to accommodate a record 1,400 graduates and their guests, ORT Argentina held two separate commencement ceremonies on Nov. 29. More than 9,000 friends, family, and guests including government and education officials, the Israeli Ambassador and community leaders filled the Luna Park Stadium in Buenos Aires.
Each ceremony included a live musical performance and laser light show. As the students approached the stage, which was decorated with Argentine and Israeli flags, they each received their diploma, a medal and a Jewish National Fund certificate for a tree planted in their honor in ORT Argentina's "Grove of Graduates" in Karmiel, Israel.
ORT Argentina's two technical high schools offer courses in fields including studio training in recording for the music industry, mass media, industrial design and architecture. There are also two post-secondary Institutes of Technology and a Teacher Training College. Together, the schools enroll some 7,000 students, serving a Jewish community of more than 250,000.
biotech students get real-world experience
ORT Argentina students studying biotechnology will have the opportunity to apply their academic training to helping a university hospital design and develop clinical instruments. The Jose de San Martin Hospital, at the University of Buenos Aires, has launched a program to produce high-tech instruments for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human diseases.
- Uruguay
A full Internet-based postgraduate diploma in education in conjunction with the Harvard Graduate School of Education was introduced last spring. Thirty-five teachers from ten different areas of the country have enrolled in the course.
students benefit from ORT's global presence
An accreditation agreement signed by ORT Uruguay University in Montevideo and Bramson ORT College in New York will allow students to receive credit for courses taken at both institutions. The goal of the agreement is to increase cooperation among schools affiliated with the ORT network. "I strongly believe this is the first step towards true academic mobility for ORT students worldwide," said World ORT Deputy Director General Dr. Gideon Meyer.
- Chile
With the financial backing of Telefonica, the national telecommunications company, ORT Chile has designed a course to train blind and physically disabled students in using the Windows operating system and the Internet. Tiflowin, the software designed by an institution for the disabled in Spain, converts everything into sound, enabling visually impaired students to surf the Internet.
ORT Chile takes to the airwaves
ORT Chile has introduced a weekly radio program broadcast on Sunday mornings. ORT Chile President Marcelo Lewkow hosts the show and invites teachers and representatives of government agencies and foundations to discuss topics including psychology, human rights, art and technology.
- Brazil
Under an agreement with the Roberto Marinho Foundation, ORT Brazil will assist in developing educational programs and act as a technical consultant. The Foundation, a leading advocate for education, Brazilian culture and heritage, works with the government, private industry and the community to develop and deliver educational material using a variety of media. The foundation will develop the programs and distribute the material. Some of the programs will be broadcast on Futura, a national educational television channel owned by the foundation.
South African students gain job and life skills
Residents of the Alexandra Township, near Johannesburg, have had the opportunity to enroll in a course that combines technology training with life skills. The course, run by ORT South Africa, combines training in computer science and tourism with bolstering self-esteem, problem-solving techniques, resumŽ-writing and public speaking.
Vivian Petja, who completed the course last June and was nominated as the top student, said at graduation, "I gained a lot from the course, and now I am equipped with the necessary tools to go out and find a job."
developing self-sufficiency in Senegal
Through World ORT's International Cooperation, a Mother and Child Care project has been operating in Dakar, Senegal, since January 1996. More than 2,500 children between the ages of three and six benefit from the pre-school program, and more than 600 women receive training as classroom assistants, health promoters and nutritionists.
Program participants are involved from the planning stage through implementation and evaluation. In addition to providing these services, ORT trains residents of the local community to take over administering the project when ORT completes its involvement.
"We ensure that the people we help will be able to sustain the tools we have provided and pass them onto the next generation," said Jean-Claude Nedjar, Director of World ORT's London International Cooperation office.
ORT further solidifies ties with FSU
In an agreement signed last August by World ORT Director General Robert Singer and Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Education Yaroslav Yatzkiv, ORT and the Ukrainian Ministry of Education will collaborate on upgrading the technology and computer literacy skills of teachers and developing curricula in these areas. A similar accord was signed in May 1999 by Robert Singer and Alexander Kondakov, Deputy Minister of General and Professional Education of the Russian Federation, to upgrade technological education within the Federation.
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