Here’s a club you might leave with your own startup or a great job

Here’s a club you might leave with
your own startup or a great job

The student clubs at Tel Aviv’s Afeka College of Engineering provide students with true added value: the industry skills they’ll need, the projects to attract future employers, and the entrepreneurial know-how that will help them transform ideas into world-changing projects. Who ever said student clubs are a thing of the past?

In most academic institutions and programs, undergraduate degrees consist of a series of courses and lessons that students are required to complete. Towards the end of the program, they may choose a specialization or elective courses based on their field of interest.

Yet some institutions teach outside the box, providing more than an academic degree. Foremost among these is Tel Aviv’s Afeka College of Engineering, which offers a full range of student clubs and extracurricular activities, giving students the opportunity to delve into their field of choice, experience real industry practices, and develop their own engineering products. At the clubs, likeminded students get together, and with the help of faculty and industry professionals they experience rich, enjoyable applied learning. If no club exists in their field of interest, students present their idea and receive the tools and resources to build it.

This investment in Afeka’s student clubs is integral to the college’s vision, which strives to educate engineers with not only cutting-edge contemporary academic knowledge – but also the proficiencies critical to working in the industry, such as teamwork, creative thinking, and self-directed learning.

Moreover, the various clubs give students the opportunity to design, develop, and lead technological projects, and to experience applied work that often equals real industry experience. Thus, it is these clubs that may provide students with added value for the day after graduation, paving their path to a desired job or a world-changing startup.

From idea to club

Afeka continuously updates its club activity, encouraging students to bring their own initiatives and helping them to make these a reality.

Afeka’s newest club, The Aerospace Club, was the brainchild of second-year mechanical engineering student Reem Ghanem. She recruited the experts in this field from Afeka’s faculty, Dr. Ido Anteby (former CEO of SpaceIL) and Dr. Eyal Katz (head of the image processing program); later adding alumnus Sapir Lazar, who researches space radiation. Students have responded enthusiastically to this new club, and now a potential international project is underway.

At the Engineers Without Borders club, students work on technological solutions for disadvantaged populations. NGOs and nonprofits present students with a real need or challenge, and collaborate with them to formulate life-improving solutions. Thus, for example, students at the club have upgraded a physiotherapy device together with the Loewenstein Rehabilitation Hospital, enabling patients to use the device while playing. The club’s current goal is to go on a project to help disadvantaged populations outside of Israel.

Afeka’s Robotics Club allows students to delve deeper into this field, and to experience applied work in maker workshops. Considered one of Afeka’s most active clubs, the Robotics Club lets students pick the projects, challenges, competitions, and hackathons in which they participate.

At the CTRL Freak club, students experience working with controllers (computerized devices for directing and monitoring end devices). The club is managed by the students, with guidance from Dr. Tal Alon of Afeka’s school of mechanical engineering.

The FIRST Mentors Club is primarily intended for alumni of the FIRST program (a world-leading educational program promoting science and technology) at Afeka, and allows them to coach [high school?] students who participate in the project’s various competitions. Students who haven’t taken part in high school competitions can receive training at the club and join it. This club includes the first team outside of North America to have taken part in the Ri3D competition, in which contestants build a robot in three days.

Afeka’s VISION Club lets students take part in computer vision (Kaggle) competitions, providing them with focused training. These days, the club’s students are gearing up for an international competition, in which they will develop an image-processing-based algorithm that allows to identify dolphins and whales by their fins.

As its name suggests, the Art and Engineering Club combines technology with art, presenting its members with the fascinating task of developing technological solutions to artistic or creative challenges. The club is led by multidisciplinary artist Nirit Levav-Packer, who among other things has built an installation in the image of Eurovision winner Netta Barzilai.

Afeka’s sports teams are also counted as clubs, and include running, basketball, climbing, chess, and other sports, with the list continuously growing. The club’s members represent Afeka in various intermural competitions.

Together with ProWoman, an international association for getting women into positions of seniority and influence, Afeka operates a one-of-its-kind club for female empowerment in technology, in which it promotes a wide variety of relevant programs and activities.

Gideon’s Club is a programming club that presents fascinating lectures on contemporary topics in programming. The club is led by Gideon Koch, a lecturer at the school of industrial engineering and management.

Afeka’s new clubs are here

These days, Afeka is starting up several new clubs focused on relevant, highly sought-after industry disciplines:

• The Energy Club, led by the academia-industry forum for developing the Israeli energy market, will promote innovative activities and initiatives in this field
• The Automotive Engineering Club, led by head of the automotive specialization program, Mr. Dan Hermann, will carry out innovative, groundbreaking automotive projects
• The English Club provides an opportunity to improve one’s business English, English accent, and conversational skills

Additionally, at the start of each school year, there is fair to introduce all existing activities. Any student or faculty member who wishes to start a club in a subject near to their heart is welcome to contact Afeka’s dean of students.