The task of training vocational instructors started already before the war, when the ORT Union spent from time to time certain sums on 'preparation of instructors.' The training focused however only on acquiring practical vocational skills rather than pedagogical preparation.

The Central ORT Institute for the Training of Instructors in Anvers was established in 1949 to solve the problem of a teacher shortage in Israel and in the ORT schools in Europe. An ORT report explained the situation: 'Today, as a consequence of the extermination of Jews in eastern Europe, the reservoir constituted by the Jewish artisan class no longer exists. Of the very large technical staff employed by ORT before the war, only a small number is still alive.  Jewish instructors of even average ability are no longer to be found in many of the occupations and trades...Requests to fill this void reach us even from the most remote ORT organizations outside Europe.'[1]

The school was housed in a refurbished modern building of a former sanatorium located close to the French border near Lake Geneva. The building contained classrooms, dormitories for 175 students and laboratories. At first the school accepted young people with no experience in trade but from 1951 enrolled only graduates of vocational courses. The training lasted two years and included practical and theoretical vocational courses as well as subjects connected with pedagogical training. All classes were taught in French. The majority of instructors at Anieres were at the same time teaching at Swiss universities and colleges. The students were provided with books and lodging as well as a stipend. After completion of the training the students were awarded  an instructor’s certificate. In the first year eighty-five students, aged eighteen to twenty-one, and coming from all over the world were admitted in subjects which included plumbing, joinery, locksmiths and tinsmiths training and mechanics. The vast majority of students were secondary school graduates. All of them were granted by the Swiss authorities the status of foreign University students.

All of the graduates took up teaching posts in Israel, North Africa and Europe.