Engineering-Social Involvement Programs

The Dean of Students Office strives to realize the vision of the College in its commitment to Israeli society and southern Israel, an area with which it is intimately acquainted. Our aim is promote our students’ involvement in social, value-based and educational activity, primarily using the engineering and technological tools they acquire at the College in order to cultivate and advance the society in which we live.
The Dean of Students Office, through a wide-range of collaborations, operates many and diverse social involvement programs. These include student leadership programs and projects with varied population groups, among them the elderly, Holocaust survivors, at-risk youth, families from a lower socio-economic background and new immigrants. In social technological entrepreneurship programs students impact society using engineering and technological tools they acquire during their studies at the College.

Engineering Society Conference

The College holds an Engineering Society conference every year, bringing together industry, entrepreneurs, academia and students to advance innovative technologies and engineering projects that provide solutions to societal needs and act to advance society. The conference focuses on innovation, engineering and society in the aim of making the world a better place for all.
As part of the conference the College awards the Engineering Society badge for social-technological entrepreneurship to a groundbreaking organization in the aim of encouraging more technological initiatives that will address social needs in Israel!
Inspiring lectures present new intersection points of technology and society as well as innovative projects developed in response to social needs.
The conference opens with an exhibition of social-engineering projects, showing how technological and engineering tools can be used to make a difference in society.
A hackathon is also part of the conference, with students from different academic institutions in Israel contending with challenges for saving lives. The students work in teams, accompanied and supported by the best experts in the varied fields. The three leading teams reach the final stage that takes place at the Engineering Society conference.

Social Angle Final Project

The Social Angle Final Project scholarship is intended for students from all departments deciding on a topic for their final project. The aim of this project is to encourage students to choose a final engineering project that will contribute to society and the community.
Students use engineering tools they acquired in their studies in order to develop a final project of social value that will make the world a better place. For example: a device that was developed to help people living with a physical disability, or an application that reminds the elderly or the sick to take their medication. Students accepted to the program will receive an encouragement scholarship.

Connecting

The Connecting scholarship enables 2nd, 3rd and 4th year SCE students to gain experience developing a technological-engineering project that solves an existing problem in society, and to do so even before they complete their degree. The students are accompanied throughout the process, from the initial stage of selecting an idea through its development.
The program is intended for students with an entrepreneurial spirit, personal responsibility and teamwork ability who are passionate about issues pertaining to Israeli society or who want to take their first step in the social-technology world. Students accepted to the program will receive an encouragement scholarship.

Engineering for the Community

The program is a combined engineering project of students from the SCE Mechanical Engineering department and school pupils. Joint teams of students and pupils build a scientific toy to explain an engineering phenomenon. The teams base their work on knowledge sources from the academic courses in the Mechanical Engineering department.
The students and pupils work together as a team to plan the product in line with defined criteria, in the aim of transmitting knowledge or a scientific idea by means of a game for all pupils in the school.
During their joint work the pupils are acquainted with academia in general and the students in particular, contributing to their empowerment, advancing their future and expanding their aspirations.
The college grants a study scholarship to the participating students.

Developing Mathematical Thinking

SCE students that successfully complete the academic course Developing Mathematical Thinking mentor high school students and teach them creative and experiential methods to develop mathematical thinking. The college awards a study scholarship to students participating in this project.
The program is accompanied by the academic advisor, Ms. Miriam Dagan – Head of the Mathematics Unit at the SCE college.

Gender and Technology

In this academic course students discuss issues such as why women do not choose a career in technology fields and examine practical ways to engender change in this area. The students mentor female high school students in the aim of exposing them to career opportunities and changing their attitudes toward technology fields.
The program is accompanied by the academic advisor, Prof. Dorit Tavor – the President's Advisor for Gender Equity, and Head of the Center for Quality Assessment and Promoting Teaching.

All This Green

In the general course All This Green students are acquainted with basic environmental and sustainability issues, deepening awareness and a sense of responsibility and partnership between students and their close and distant environment. The course is conducted in cooperation with and under the guidance of experts, and accompanied by the academic advisor Dr. Ariela Burg, Head of the Chemical Engineering department at the Be’er Sheva campus. This is a general course (2 credit points) and is intended for students from all SCE academic departments.

The Campus Garden Program

In recent years environment, public health and safety considerations carry significant weight in decision making processes. The future of the coming generations is to a large extent decided by actions we take in the present. The Green Campus student organization, that is accompanied by the Dean of Students Office, seeks to create a sustainable environment for the student community, the faculty and those who visit the campus daily, while emphasizing environmental and community activity. In cooperation with professional entities the organization leads the Campus Garden program – cultivating and managing a community garden on the college premises. The students carry out a range of activities around the garden, with an emphasis on cultivating the soil and organizing harvesting and planting days.

Courses for Neighborhood Residents

Every year the college offers theoretical and experiential courses to the residents of neighborhood A in Be’er Sheva and neighborhood B in Ashdod, the two neighborhoods where the two college campuses are located. Course topics are diverse, among them: English, Computers, Acquaintance with the Internet and Pilates.