The Aïda Scholarship Program supports the acquisition of higher education by school graduates from disadvantaged communities. It achieves this through the creation of a social-educational continuum that includes scholastic support, psychological grounding, guidance and support that begins in high school and continues through the years of higher education, until the achievement of an academic degree.

The program creates a comprehensive cycle of change between two impact points. University students, who have graduated from schools in disadvantaged communities, return to their old schools to serve as mentors to school students there who are not fulfilling their educational potential. The university students serve as tutors and role models and provide emotional support in addition to scholastic support.

School students who graduate successfully receive a scholarship to continue their education. After military or national service, they return to their old school as university students to support in their turn a new generation of school students. In addition to the scholarship, the university students receive emotional support and guidance to help them persevere in the studies as well as training to improve their learning and teaching skills. The program also includes workshops, individual guidance and mentoring meetings with professionals to help prepare the university students for entering the work market.

The connection between the university and school students, all of whom come from the same neighborhood, is mutually empowering and strengthening.

The program promotes educational excellence and raises the rate of the schools’ graduates who move on to obtain higher education.

The Aïda Scholarship Program includes some 60 university and 200 school students a year.