Expansive Visions Need a Great Expanse
The bold, forward-thinking community that supports BGU is spurred by our spirit of entrepreneurship and success in innovation, inspired by the potential of our socially and environmentally relevant research, and committed to our dual goals of academic excellence and broad accessibility. But perhaps most of all, our partners share our vision for the desert as a place where new ideas, approaches, and advancements can take root, changing the face of Israel and the entire world. As our generous supporter Lorry Lokey explains, “I made this investment because I'm betting on the future: for what Ben-Gurion University, on the edge of the desert, offers Israeli students and Israel."
Elevating the Negev
Beyond a wellspring of employment, streams of revenue, and goal-oriented research, BGU will soon become the anchor for a new innovation district in the area surrounding the University. Together with government, industry, and the adjacent Soroka University Medical Center, we will leverage the BGU's and Beer-Sheva's unique expertise in desert technology, digital health, and cyber security into an engine of economic growth for the southern region.
Through our Judisman Science Center for Youth's many educational enrichment and outreach programs, we open academia's doors, knowledge, and infrastructure to the South's pupils, which in turn opens minds and paths to economic mobility. We also work to enroll and ensure the success of a growing number of Bedouin students, who go on as graduates serve as role models in their communities. In this way, we broaden the horizons of countless others in the periphery.
BGU is also a living lab, challenging students to live out their commitment to social change. Our flagship Lillian and Larry Goodman Open Apartments program, for example, brings students into Beer-Sheva's economically depressed neighborhoods to catalyze community renewal, while our Faculty of Health Sciences trains tomorrow's Israeli physicians, medical professionals, researchers, and policymakers while prioritizing the Negev's unique healthcare and communal needs.
Founded to develop the Negev, BGU also continues to take as a central mission the elevation of its diverse society. Through our new post of vice president for diversity and inclusion, we will work to attract and retain outstanding researchers from underrepresented populations, as well as strive for increased representation in the student body of Arabs, women, those with disabilities, Ethiopian immigrants, Haredim, and members of the LGBTQ+ communities. By achieving these key objectives, we will promote diverse approaches to teaching and research, broaden the perspectives and experiences that comprise academic discourse, and ultimately advance our goal of excellence.
Educating Israel's Next Generation
With more than 20,000 students spread across three campuses, eight research institutes, and five faculties, BGU is a key means of knowledge production for Israel's next generation. We educate an ethnically and ideologically diverse cross-section of citizens for scientific, technological, and cultural contributions to the state, and strive to instill the value of community engagement in students of every field.
BGU is also preparing a new generation of innovators for the Startup Nation. Initiatives such as Yazamut 360° have turned the campus into a hothouse of entrepreneurship, while partnerships with multi-national technology companies offer them real-world, hands-on entrepreneurial experience even before they graduate.
Through the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism and our renowned Department of Hebrew Literature — itself home to the Heksherim Institute for the Study of Hebrew and Jewish Literature and Culture — we take the lead in preserving and promoting Israel's literary tradition and encouraging the study of the ideas, texts, and historical events that shaped the Jewish state from its beginnings until today. Our Pinchas Sapir Faculty of the Humanities and Social Sciences encourages students to explore the most fundamental subjects that shape our civilization and identities, and to acquire the communication, critical thinking, and reasoning skills that will help them create a more just and flourishing Israeli society.
Advancing Research and Innovation for the World
Home to nearly 2,000 researchers, more than 60 interdisciplinary university- and faculty-research centers, and the BGN Technologies tech transfer company, BGU is a hothouse for technological innovation and scientific discovery. From a nanosatellite for space research to a novel therapy for ALS, our developments hold the potential to improve the health and security of the state and ensure a more sustainable world.
Our one-of-a-kind Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, located on our Sde Boker campus, is an international leader in research and development for the most pressing environmental challenges of our time, including global warming, renewable energy sources, and food and water scarcity. We are also home to Israel's only research institute in the field of homeland security, integrating cyber security, physical infrastructure, and issues related to society and democracy under one roof, and to the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, designed to accelerate BGU's translational discovery and research in the fields of cancer, autoimmune disorders, human genetic diseases, and applied biotechnology.
Our emphasis on multi-disciplinary research has led to initiatives such as the national Azrieli Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research, which aims to transform Israel into a world leader in autism research and clinical care. Likewise, the Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology enables scientists from across the University's Faculties of Engineering, Health, and Natural Sciences to collaborate in the name of energy conversion and storage, nanomedicine, water desalination, quantum technology, and other areas with critical implications for the future of Israel and countries around the globe.