23 May 2006 Bachelor degree status for ORT Strasbourg course ORT Strasbourg has become the first private college in France to offer a three-year bachelor degree course in collaboration with a university. The Licence Professionnel des Metiers de lOptique et de la Vision is due to start in September. It is the result of years of preparatory work undertaken by ORT France which was impressive enough to attract the Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg. The introduction of the course was groundbreaking, said ORT Strasbourg Principal Claude Sabbah, and was the icing on the cake of ORT Strasbourgs 60th anniversary celebrations. Its the first time that a private school has combined with a university to provide this level of training, Mr Sabbah said. The course has been designed with the help of Louis Pasteur University and a range of professional optometrists organisations. The new course is an advance on the BTS doptique (Opticians Technical Diploma), which has recorded its fourth successful year of operation, by offering more management and accounting, as well as medico-scientific skills. ORT Strasbourg currently has a total of 450 Jewish and non-Jewish students at junior, high school and university level; some 80 Jewish students live on campus. Other post-high school studies offered at ORT Strasbourg include international trade and commerce, computer sciences and a special two-year course to prepare students for the countrys top engineering schools. Optometric students at ORT Strasbourg. A proud ORT France National Director Marc Timsit said the course would see lecturers from the Louis Pasteur University teaching at ORT and ORT teachers working at the university. World ORT Representative in France, Guy Seniak, said the new course marked another advance in the education and training provided by ORT France. Twenty-five years ago ORT Frances provision extended only up to matriculation level, Mr Seniak said. Since then, ORT France has consistently managed to raise standards and now it is not unusual to offer post-matriculation two-year courses at college level. This BA in a professional track is another step up. This process is a positive response to the demand of Jewish families who will not be satisfied with lower levels of training and education, whether in vocational or general studies. The Louis Pasteur University, with 18,000 students, is renowned in Europe for its teaching in the fields of health and science. World ORT, founded in 1880, is the worlds largest Jewish education and vocational training non-government organisation with some 270,000 students Jewish and non-Jewish in 58 countries.