December 20, 2005 ORT leads Russian delegation to Israel A high ranking Russian delegation has toured ORT educational establishments and other schools in Israel to see how ICT education works in the Jewish State and how it has helped to reform the countrys education system in general. Andrey Svinarenko, the Russian First Deputy Minister of Education and Science, was joined by senior representatives of the World Bank, the National Training Foundation and the President of ORT Russia, Professor Alexander Asmolov, on the fact-finding mission designed to help Russias own bid to improve its technology education. World ORTs Representative in Russia, Belarus and Central Asia, Avi Ganon, lead the tour. The group visited the Moshinsky Pedagogical Centre in Tel Aviv, which researches, designs and develops teaching aids; innovates new teaching methods and materials; upgrades and retrains teachers; offers special courses and seminars and acts as a resource centre for the entire ORT Israel network of 162 school and colleges. The Centre also provides training courses for teachers from other education networks. At Moshinsky the delegation saw at first hand how educational materials and curricula are developed, produced and distributed via media such as CD-ROMs, databases and innovative learning kits. Other highlights included visits to ORT Braude College of Engineering in Karmiel, whose 3,500 students pursue Bachelor of Science degrees in mechanical engineering, biotechnology engineering, industrial engineering and management, and electronics and electrical engineering. From left: Avi Ganon, Marina Solinova, Elena Soboleva, Majalli Whbee, Andrey Svinarenko, Andrey Petrov, Alexander Asmolov. Central to the visit were a number of meetings held with some of Israels leading figures in education and technology, including a very productive and rewarding meeting with Majalli Whbee, the Deputy Minister of Education, Culture and Sport. The atmosphere was very friendly and the results of the visit will be seen in the future through improved relations and communications between Israel and Russia, said Mr Ganon. At the ORT Moshinsky Pedagogical Centre: (from left) Avi Ganon, Andrey Petrov, Marina Solinova, Natalia Kondrashova, Elena Soboleva, Isak Froumin, Professor Alexander Asmolov. The itinerary was organised by ORT but featured visits to prestigious and innovative non-ORT centres such as the Technion Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, whose graduates fill some 74 per cent of managerial position in the countrys electronic industries. There was also a visit to the Cramim School in Rishon Le Zion. Founded in 1995, the school perceives technology as a combination of knowledge and means of solving problems and not as a goal in and of itself. The visitors met the principal and enjoyed demonstrations on the sue of IT in class from kindergarten to high school. The delegation also included Elena Soboleva, Executive Director of the National Training Foundation; Lidiya Antonova, Head of the Moscow Education Department; Marina Solinova, Deputy Head of the Federal Agency on Education; Isak Froumin, Head of Education Projects the World Banks Moscow office; Andrey Petrov, Head of the Financial Management Department of the Ministry of Education and Science; Natalia Kondrashova, Deputy Executive Director of the National Training Foundation; and Tatiana Selezneva, Deputy Head of the Moscow Education Department. World ORT, founded in 1880, is the worlds largest Jewish educational and vocational training non-government organisation with some 270,000 students Jewish and non-Jewish in 58 countries. ORT Israel is World ORTs largest operational network with more than 100,000 students Jewish, Arab, Druze and Bedouin in 162 institutions. ORT resumed operations in the former Soviet Union in 1991. It now coordinates operations in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and Kyrgyzstan 53 projects in 32 locations serving more than 27,000 people.