BGU | Fundraising Handbook

in courses led by BGU researchers at India’s Jindal Global University and Chinese students residing in Israel enrolled in seminars offered by the center. With each course, seminar, and encounter, our international students’ perspectives of Israel are enhanced, broadened, and more nuanced. These enlightened perspectives are particularly valuable today, given the extent of the antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment worldwide. This makes the Israel Studies discipline more important than ever before. Researchers at the BIDR address diverse aspects of sustainable development, which is one of the world’s greatest challenges. Around 400 million people live in deserts, and more than 2.2 billion people live in non desert drylands. Sustainable development in these areas ultimately depends on the resourcefulness, creativity, and technical capacity of local communities. International students at the BIDR develop these capabilities and much needed expertise by performing research on water scarcity, food security, clean energy, ecosystem dynamics, and more. Upon completing their degrees, these students return to their home countries well equipped to tackle local sustainability challenges. Unfortunately, the University’s ability to expand existing programs at the BIDR and the BGRI and increase the number of students is limited by the number of dormitories. This in turn limits the number of informal Israel ambassadors and Israel Studies experts emerging from BGRI programs and the number of experts possessing the expertise to deal with the sustainability challenges seen around the world emerging from the BIDR. The development of the Sde Boker Campus will therefore focus on the construction of two new dormitory buildings. The Eilat Campus addresses a number of educational needs, including (1) the need for an institution of higher learning that can serve and strengthen the local community in Israel’s most remote region (with, for example, social work, psychology, and health management programs); (2) the need for educational programs that complement the region’s unique character (including programs in marine biology, sea technology, and hotel and tourism management); (3) the need for a pre-academic preparatory program in the periphery aimed at increasing accessibility to higher education; and (4) the need for a first-year engineering program for students who don’t quite meet the entrance requirements for undergraduate engineering programs; those who successfully complete their first year in Eilat

can continue their studies in Beer-Sheva, providing a pathway to an engineering career for students who might not otherwise have had this opportunity. Hundreds of students are enrolled in BGU’s degree programs in Eilat; however, the existing dormitory can only accommodate around 70 first-year students. The scope of the Eilat Campus is poised to widen with the long hoped for establishment of a Center for Sea Technology at BGU. The Israeli government has recognized this as a unique opportunity: By driving the growth of a new high-tech sector strategically located on the Red Sea, it aims to turn the startup nation into the world’s frontrunner in sustainable ocean technologies. BGU plans to meet this challenge by establishing the country’s first academic center for scientific research and training in sea technology. The advancement of sea-tech has the potential to transform Eilat, serving as a much-needed economic driver fostering the city’s development. The development of the Eilat Campus will therefore focus on the high impact sea-tech domain, as well as the construction of new dormitory buildings. In both Sde Boker and Eilat, the availability of other student housing is limited. Sde Boker is a small community, consisting mainly of single-family homes occupied by the town’s permanent residents. These homes are in high demand given the limited construction in the area and the high quality of community life there. In Eilat, rental apartments are expensive, placing a financial burden on students. BGU’s Commitment to the Growth of the Sde Boker and Eilat Campuses BGU’s campuses in Sde Boker and Eilat have an important role in the University’s educational and research offerings. The Sde Boker Campus serves as a living laboratory for our students and researchers at the BIDR, providing a wealth of research opportunities unique to the area. The Cyndi and Max Mintzberg Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel & Zionism Building and the Ben-Gurion Archives is effectively a state-of-the-art and one-of-a-kind laboratory for the study of Israel and Zionism. In Eilat, the tourism industry provides practical applications and understanding of the field to our students, while the sea provides a vibrant and accessible marine laboratory with unique coral resources. BGU is committed to developing the two campuses by focusing on projects that will provide the greatest return on investment: new dormitories and sea tech. New

12

CAPITAL FUNDING PROJECTS

SDE BOKER AND EILAT CAMPUS DEVELOPMENT