Contribution of Pre-Academic Preparatory Studies to Development Empowerment among Students
Khawla Zoabi, Yaser Awad

Abstract
The Pre-Academic Preparatory Program (PAPP) is a remedial framework aimed at providing students with the
tools needed to pursue a higher education.
Higher education institutions in Israel tend to evaluate the success of such programs by means of quantitative
criteria based on the students’ grades. This study sets out from the premise that evaluations based exclusively on
a student’s grades fail to provide a true assessment of his or her development in the program. Accordingly, it examines
the impact of the program on the students’ sense of empowerment.
Data collection was conducted by means of a questionnaire compiled especially for this study, consisting of various
propositions derived from the extensive literature on the issue of empowerment. The study samplecomprises
146 Arab students in Israeli, randomly chosen from the pre-academic preparatory program at the Sakhnin College
of Teacher Education. The findings point to a strong association between a sense ofEmpowerment and the
courses offered in the program.

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