The Pillar-Lambert Scholarship Fund will boost accessibility to the finest university education for talented young Israelis from outlying and developmental towns. Statistics published by the Israeli Education Ministry show that the top high schools in the centre of the country outperform the best schools in the periphery.

This means that, generally, young people from Israel’s outlying and economically distressed communities have lower standardized test scores and therefore lower university admittance rates compared to those from the wealthier central region. To redress this, TAU’s highly successful Periphery Program, established in 2005, admits students based on their achievements relative to peers in their own high schools, rather than standardized admission tests.