Support Students with Disabilities

The OUI has a higher enrollment of students with disabilities than any other Israeli university. Over 1,000 students with special learning needs are currently enrolled at the OUI, including students with learning disabilities, attention deficits, and other disabilities, including hearing or visual impairments, motor disabilities, chronic illnesses, and sensory, emotional, or neurological disorders. 

For many of these students, the Open University is clearly the preferred option, due to its unique distance learning approach, which allows students the flexibility of studying from the convenience of their own home or at one of the fifty study centers located all across Israel. Hybrid options also allow students to combine in-person and online learning. Importantly, the OUI model also enables each student to study at his or her own pace.

The Open University established the Eitan Center to provide support and guidance for students with disabilities, and to ensure that study materials and the physical environment are fully accessible. The center offers a variety of student services, from diagnostics to learning modifications. A strong emphasis is placed on creating accessible learning environments, including adapting learning methods to suit the needs of each student. 

Students who visit the Eitan Center receive guidance from the beginning of their studies through graduation. The services we provide include study skill and work habit strategies, support in adjusting to academic studies and maintaining progress, and techniques for sustaining a meaningful learning experience. Students become empowered; and their sense of competence and independence are strengthened as they learn to maximize their personal strengths.  

All of the OUI’s fifty-plus study centers are fully accessible, including accommodation for visual and hearing impaired students. In addition, the OUI is spearheading digital accessibility, including accessible exam forms, subtitled recorded lectures and video recordings of OUI events, real-time transcriptions of online tutoring sessions for hearing-impaired students, braille reading materials, and digital materials with a read-aloud option. 

The Eitan Center works in close partnership with MEITAL (Inter-University Center for E-learning, IUCEL) and the Israel Accessibility Association. OUI representatives are also members of the Experts Committee of the Standards Institute of Israel, which determines Israel’s internet standards.

Feedback from OUI students with special learning needs makes it very clear that many would not having been able to pursue their higher education at any other university in Israel. The Eitan Center makes true inclusion a reality for everyone, as it integrates adults with disabilities into academia, assists them in completing their university studies, and helps them acquire the skills needed to secure good employment. In doing so, we are helping make Israel a more inclusive society. 

Your partnership and support will allow the Eitan Center to continue its important work, thereby creating awareness and true inclusion for all students in higher education.

Thank you for considering supporting this important cause.