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NINE HUNDRED YOUNG IMMIGRANTS FROM FSU IN SELA PROGRAM BECOME ISRAELI CITIZENS
 President Moshe Kazav presents new immigrants with Israeli ID cards at ceremony held at Binyanei Hauma Convention center. Nine hundred young immigrants, who arrived recently from the Former Soviet Union within the framework of Jewish Agency's "Sela" program for higher education, received Israeli ID cards in a Presidential ceremony last Tuesday. The ceremony included candle lighting, Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor and Chairman of the Agency's Immigration and Absorption Committee. The young men and women in the program arrived three months ago, without their parents to prepare for entering Israeli institutions of higher education. Despite the current security situation in Israel they all chose to remain and become citizens. Prior to the ceremony, the new immigrants toured areas of Israel that were associated with the Maccabis; Latroun, Modiin, the Neot Keduminm biblical village, and Jerusalem. The Jewish Agency's "Sela" (Hebrew acronym for students before parents) program is intended for young men and women aged 17-21 interested in immigrating to Israel and studying in an Israeli institution of higher education. During their first year, program participants live in Jewish Agency absorption centers and take courses to prepare them for university study. Their curriculum includes intensive courses in the Hebrew language, English, Mathematics, Israeli History as well as preparation for the university psychometric examination (which is required for entrance into Israeli universities) At the conclusion of their preparatory year, the young men and women enter university. Some choose to be drafted first into the IDF, others enter the IDF Academic Reserve Program (a program similar to the ROTC which enables them to defer active duty in the IDF while they study in a university or college); others enter a university-run preparatory program. Since the inception of "Sela", six years ago, six thousand young immigrants from throughout the Former Soviet Union have made their mark in all walks of life in Israel. Many families immigrated to Israel in the wake of their children's aliyah through the "Sela" program.
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