Over the past few years, nearly 40% of incoming students enrolled in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Haifa have dropped out from the BSc degree program. To help address this challenge, the University of Haifa launched a computer science retention initiative several years ago, designed to provide talented minority students with extra academic support to significantly increase their success in completing their computer science degree. The initiative offered an intensive six-week summer program and a semester-long preparatory program. With more than 60% of the Department’s students coming from minority communities, and a majority from economically disadvantaged homes, the initiative was an important statement demonstrating the University’s commitment to diversity and pluralism and making academic success widely accessible to all young people in northern Israel.

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