1880 A small group of prominent Russian Jews petitioned Tzar Alexander II for permission to start a fund to help lift Russia’s five million Jews out of crushing poverty. ORT, Obschestvo Remeslenovo i zemledelcheskovo Trouda (the Society for Trades and Agricultural Labour) is founded.
1881 to 1906 ORT raised over a million rubles and provided trade skills to 25,000 Jews in 350 towns of the Russian Empire.
1914 to 1910 During World War I, ORT’s cooperative workshops, soup kitchens and credit offices saved thousands from starvation. ORT set up a Relief-through-Work project to find employment for displaced Jews.
1921 World ORT Union is established by ORT leaders at a conference in Berlin.
1922 The American ORT Society, forerunner of American ORT, was established.
1930s World ORT starts its operations in Latin America.
1938 Stalin’s purges ended ORT operations in the Soviet Union.
1940 ORT conducted vocational training courses in the Kovno Ghetto until 1942.
1945 ORT began work in the post-war DP (displaced persons) camps.
1949 ORT Israel was established.
1949 The Iron Curtain forced the closing of ORT programmes in Eastern Europe.
1947-1950 ORT began operations in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Iran.
1959 The Syngalowski Centre was created in Tel Aviv – the first modern vocational education institution in Israel.
1960 ORT International Cooperation activities commenced.
1960s ORT Israel and ORT France met increasing demands for training from the influx of Jews from North Africa and Eastern Europe.
1970s Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay became major centres of operation for ORT in Latin America.
1976 Opening of the ORT School of Engineering on the campus of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
1985 ORT Israel helped to absorb the first large wave of olim from Ethiopia.
1989 Opening of the ORT Braude International Institute of Technology in Karmiel, Israel.
1990 ORT returned to Russia after a 52-year absence with the signing of an agreement with the Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Education.
1995 ORT schools opened in Moscow and St Petersburg.
1996 ORT entered the Internet Superhighway, linking its centres around the world through ORTnet.
1999 Agreements were signed with the Russian Government and local education authorities leading to a sixfold increase in ORT student numbers in the Former Soviet Union.
2000 Creation of the Regeneration 2000 Campaign and the establishment of a new network of ORT schools and educational centres in Moscow, St Petersburg, Kazan, Kiev, Kharkov, Dniepropetrovsk, Minsk, Kishinev, Vilnius and Riga.
2004 Inauguration of the World ORT 1880 Society for ORT’s most inspirational and generous donors.
2004 ORT’s Next Generation Initiative was launched and the first meeting of ORT’s next generation of layleaders was held in Paris.
2006 Merger of American ORT and Women’s American ORT was successfully completed. ORT America was born.
2006 ORT Strasbourg became the first private college in France to offer a three-year bachelor degree course in collaboration with a university with the introduction of its Licence Professionel des Métiers de l’Optique et de la Vision with the Louis Pasteur University.
2007 Establishment of Science Journey / Kadima Mada in Israel - the new World ORT initiative.
2007 ORT Uruguay was ranked among the top 500 tertiary institutions in the world (out of 25,000). It was ranked eighth of the 17 Latin American institutions listed and was the only Uruguayan institution included.
2007 President’s Prize for ORT St Petersburg Russia’s highest award for innovation and excellence in education was presented to the ORT de Gunzburg School in St Petersburg.
