The Chabad on Campus International Foundation, following up on a decade of unprecedented expansion, announced plans for the establishment of six new student centers across Northern Europe over the next year.

Funded by philanthropist David Slager, who has underwritten much of the UK expansion and the 13 student centers established there under the aegis of Chabad on Campus UK since 2000, the new European centers will bring the number of campus Chabad Houses to more than 170. The first of the six, in Debrecen, Hungary, has already opened.

In announcing the expansion of Chabad on Campus Europe, Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, chairman of the Chabad on Campus International Foundation and vice chairman of Chabad-Lubavitch’s educational arm, called the growth “a testament to the inspiration and vision” of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory.

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“The Rebbe taught us the importance of every individual,” Kotlarsky told attendees at the recent conference of campus Chabad House directors in upstate New York. “We cannot rest until the needs of every Jewish student are met.”

The announcement capped a multi-day conference that included programming for freshman and veteran Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries and their children.

“We covered the gamut of topics relevant to college students,” said Rabbi Yossy Gordon, executive vice president of the Chabad on Campus International Foundation, “from anti-Israel sentiment, to pedagogy, to social networking and organizational development.”

Philanthropist George Rohr, Chabad on Campus’ primary benefactor and chairman of the organization’s board of governors, applauded Slager’s support of the European initiative.

“This expansion, and David Slager’s extraordinary support of it, will enable so many more young Jews to connect with their heritage, year-in and year-out,” said Rohr. “I know that David has a keen understanding of the great philanthropic leverage he receives through his support of Chabad on Campus. I have long observed the tangible reality of it myself, and I’m heartened that he does as well.”

“We are elated about this new expansion,” said Rabbi Eli Brackman, chairman of Chabad on Campus UK and director of the Oxford Chabad Society. “It will serve as a crucial step in reaching out to the tens of thousands of Jewish students across the continent, by providing stimulating social and educational programming and a home away from home for Jewish students from all backgrounds.”

In addition, said Brackman, a key coordinator of the new European expansion, it will go a long way towards standing up to anti-Semitism and the continued de-legitimization of Israel and Jewish observance in Europe, as seen recently with the ban on ritual slaughter in Holland.