Ben Gurion University
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Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) (, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a
public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...
research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are "the key sites of Knowledge production modes, knowledge production", along with "intergenerational ...
in
Beersheba Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most p ...
, Israel. Named after Israeli national founder
David Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary List of national founders, national founder and first Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister of the State of Israel. As head of the Jewish Agency ...
, the university was founded in 1969 and currently has five campuses; three in Beersheba, one in Sede Boqer and one in
Eilat Eilat ( , ; ; ) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy port of Eilat, port and popular resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on what is known in Israel as the Gulf of Eilat and in Jordan as the Gulf of Aqaba. The c ...
. Ben-Gurion University has about 20,000 students. Some of its research institutes include the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, the Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research with the Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies, and the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and
Zionism Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...
.


History

Ben-Gurion University was established in 1969 as the University of the Negev with the aim of promoting the development of the
Negev desert The Negev ( ; ) or Naqab (), is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort town, resort city ...
, which comprises more than sixty percent of Israel. The University was later renamed after Israel's founder and first prime minister,
David Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary List of national founders, national founder and first Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister of the State of Israel. As head of the Jewish Agency ...
, who believed that the future of the country lay in this region. After Ben-Gurion's death in 1973, the University was renamed Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Past presidents of the university include Moshe Prywes (1973–75), Yosef Tekoah (1975–81), Shlomo Gazit (1982–85), Chaim Elata (1985–90), Avishay Braverman (1990–2006), Rivka Carmi (2006–18), and Daniel Chamovitz (2019–present). The current Chairman of the Executive Council is Avi Nissenkorn. In 2016, the late Dr. Howard and Lottie Marcus bequeathed approximatel
US$400 million
to the university. This is the largest bequest ever made to an Israeli university and the most generous donation to any institution in the State of Israel. The funds doubled the University's existing endowment.


Academics


University rankings

BGU has been ranked 320th in the world, 70th in Asia and 4th in Israel according to the 2016
QS World University Rankings The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with '' Times ...
. BGU also ranked 31st overall in the ranking of young universities according to the 2016 QS "Top 50 Under 50" and the only one in Israel to date. BGU is ranked between 101st and 150th overall in computer science according to the 2015
Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong Universi ...
in Computer Science for four consecutive years.


Faculties, schools, research institutes and centers

Ben-Gurion University has five faculties with 51 academic departments and units: Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Faculty of
Health Sciences The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to health sciences: Health sciences – those sciences that focus on health, or health care, as core parts of their subject matter. Health sciences relate to multiple a ...
, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and
Social Sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...
and the Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management. Ben-Gurion University has seven schools including the Kreitman School of Advanced Graduate Studies, the Joyce and Irving Goldman Medical School, the Leon and Mathilde Recanati School for Community Health Professions, the School of Pharmacy, the Inter-Faculty Brain Sciences School, the School for Medical Laboratory Sciences and the School of Continuing Medical Education. Ben-Gurion University has eight research institutes including the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, the Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism, and Heksherim – The Research Institute for Jewish and Israeli Literature and Culture. In 2024, the university launched a new medical school program designed specifically to serve recent immigrants to Israel. The initiative, aimed at addressing physician shortages and easing the professional transition for olim, was made possible by a major philanthropic gift from Israeli industrialist Sami Sagol. In 1978 Prof. Alfred Inselberg, then with the Faculty of Mathematics, together with Dr. Sam Bergman and Dr. Avraham Melkman initiated the
Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
program which by 1982 had attracted more than 200 students. Notably, this was the first university program in Israel where students were taught Pascal, used terminals rather than punch-card machines and where the first Computer Graphics Laboratory in Israel was established. This was the genesis of Computer Science education at Ben-Gurion University which eventually led to a separate Department of Computer Science.


The Medical School for International Health (MSIH)

The Medical School for International Health grew out of collaborations between faculty at Ben-Gurion University and Columbia University.About MSIH, Medical School for International Health
accessed February 20, 2008
A joint global health and medical care program, it was established in 1997. The MSIH is a four-year, North American-style medical school that incorporates global health coursework into all four years of the medical school curriculum. It is an English-language collaboration between Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Faculty of Health Sciences and Columbia University Irving Medical Center and is located in
Beersheba Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most p ...
,
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
. The school enrolls more than 30 students each year.Home page
, Medical School for International Health, accessed February 20, 2008
Most of the students are from the United States, with several from Canada and other countries. In October 2018, The Medical School for International Health celebrated 20 years of existence, by holding a two-day seminar to recognize its achievements and bring together its many partners from around the world. The event concluded with the Physicians' Oath Ceremony (not to be confused with a White Coat Ceremony) by the Class of 2022. In October 2019, the 21st cohort of MSIH (Class of 2023) took their Physician's Oath at a special ceremony on campus. For the first time in the program's history, the faculty presented each student of the class with an actual White Coat emblazoned with the MSIH logo.


Interdisciplinary research centers

There are sixty one interdisciplinary research centers at Ben-Gurion University including: the S. Daniel Abraham International Center for Health and Nutrition, the Robert H. Arnow Center for Bedouin Studies and Development, the Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center, the Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought, the Esther and Sidney Rabb Center for Holocaust and Redemption Studies, the Edmond J. Safra Center for the Design and Engineering of Functional Biopolymers, the Reimund Stadler Minerva Center for Mesoscale Macromolecular Engineering and the Zlotowski Center for Neurosciences.


International programs

BGU International has worked to increase the number of academic programs available to international students, in English instruction. The programs include: the Albert Katz International School of Desert Studies, the Medical School for International Health, the Israel Studies Masters Program, the African Sustainable Communities MA Program, the MBA International Program, and BGU International's Summer Programs, Semester Study Abroad, and Academic Internship programs. The University hosts students from nearly 70 countries.


Publications

*''Geography Research Forum'' (GRF), Israel's only English-language geography journal


Notable people


See also

*
List of universities in Israel As of August 2021, there are ten university, universities and 53 colleges in Israel, which are recognized and academically supervised by the Council for Higher Education in Israel. In addition, Israel founded a university in Ariel (city), Ariel in ...
*
Education in Israel Education in Israel encompasses compulsory education, which spans from kindergarten through 12th grade, and higher education, which is characterized by a public university system and significant government subsidies. The school education, which ...


References


External links


Official Website (English)
{{authority control Universities and colleges established in 1969 Research institutes in Israel Universities in Israel Buildings and structures in Beersheba 1969 establishments in Israel Beersheba Commemoration of David Ben-Gurion Science and technology in Israel Multidisciplinary research institutes Organizations based in Beersheba