BGU | Fundraising Handbook

response to the social protests in Israel demanding, among other things, affordable housing for students. The Drahi Innovation and Entrepreneurship Building, which will enable BGU to expand its efforts to foster a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship on campus, will ensure that our future graduates are equipped with both the education and entrepreneurship skills needed to compete in today’s job market and advance Israel in the years ahead. The North Campus will also facilitate meeting the requirements of new technologies and the research and solutions they enable. New technologies are emerging all the time, placing increased demands on our research and teaching infrastructure and necessitating the construction of new facilities with unique specifications. For example, AI research requires dedicated high performance computing (HPC) facilities centralizing the connectivity and equipment needed to perform complex calculations and process the vast amounts of data driving large language models like ChatGPT. With the requirements of technologies still on the horizon unknown, the North Campus will provide the flexibility to innovate and adapt to meet new demands. In essence, the North Campus provides fertile ground upon which to build state-of-the-art facilities – fully equipped classrooms, auditoriums, learning centers, and teaching and research labs that meet the needs of today’s students and researchers and facilitate the development of the solutions required to meet both today’s challenges and those on the horizon. Its development will accommodate the growth in student numbers expected in the next few years and coming decades, enabling the education of future generations, and facilitate the recruitment of the faculty members and researchers who will educate and inspire these students and perform research in the cutting-edge facilities of the North Campus. In doing so, the development of the North Campus will most certainly increase the University’s capacity for global impact, strengthen BGU’s ability to fulfill David Ben-Gurion’s vision for the Negev, and enable the University to realize its potential for the future of Israel and the future of the world. Enlisting Support for North Campus Development The plans for the first phase of North Campus development have long been in place. The Student Village was the first project completed, with students first occupying their apartments at the Student Village at

growth and serve the large influx of new students on the horizon (given the IDF’s move to the South and the increase in enrollment, a trend which we are confident will continue) and the faculty members that will instruct and guide them. The North Campus is a remarkable resource that other institutions of higher learning around the world can only dream of. But its value lies in its development and use to educate the students who will lead and shape Israel in the future, advance research in a wide range of domains, strengthen existing areas of research expertise and build new ones, revitalize and rebuild the Negev region, enhance the ecosystem of innovation developing in Beer-Sheva, and further advance the University and the State of Israel. BGU’s Commitment to Developing the North Campus The development of the North Campus is also critical to BGU’s ability to implement its strategic plan and achieve its goals of becoming one of the world’s top research institutions and Israel’s leading university in terms of research, teaching, and contribution to society; the recruitment of top researchers and students, which is central to fulfilling the strategic plan, relies on state-of-the-art facilities – labs, classrooms, and dorms – and infrastructure, all of which are designated for the North Campus. In addition to being vital to the University’s growth and development over the next 50 years, the transformative North Campus project is linked to the IDF’s move South, the continued expansion of the ATP, and Beer-Sheva’s emergence as an Innovation District, all of which are taking place in partnership with BGU. Each will increase demand for research collaboration, educational programs, and facilities which the development of the North Campus will make possible. As a result, the University is deeply committed to the development of the North Campus. The North Campus holds great promise, allowing us to dream big in our plans, with the aim of meeting the needs of the students and researchers of the future – those who will take Israel to even greater heights in the decades to come. The Student Village, which was the first project completed, did just that. The government’s allocation of the land for BGU’s North Campus was in part a Realizing BGU’s Full Potential and Maximizing its Impact

CAPITAL FUNDING PROJECTS

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NORTH CAMPUS DEVELOPMENT