The Wingate Institute, The National Institute for Sport Excellence, lies on a vibrant campus spread over some 120 acres, between Tel-Aviv and Netanya off the coastal highway. It is located 8 km south of Netanya off the main Tel Aviv – Haifa Highway (number 2). It was inaugurated in 1957 as Israel’s National Center for Physical Education and Sport and is named in honor of Major General Orde Charles Wingate, a British military officer known as “The Friend”.
In those days the State of Israel concentrated at the Institute the educational, professional and scientific resources for the development of physical education, “sport for all”, and elite sport and sport as a means of social and physical rehabilitation. In recognition of extraordinary achievements in the field of education, sport medicine and research, the then President of the State of Israel – the late Mr. Haim Herzog – awarded the prestigious Israel Prize to the Wingate Institute in 1989.Since 2023 it is part of the Levinsky-Wingate Academic Center, as part of a broad move by the Ministry of Education and the Council for Higher Education to merge education colleges in Israel. The Levinsky College of Education is a veteran and leading Israeli academic institution that shapes education and society and offers high-quality education. The College aims to lead a fundamental change in education and society through pedagogical research and innovation. This unification, one of the first of its kind, is expected to significantly upgrade the status of academic staff at both institutions. According to the agreement, both campuses continue to operate.
Language and Places: Multilingual Practices and Identity 