BGU | PRESIDENT'S REPORT 2026

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BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY OF THE NEGEV

From the PRESIDENT

change. We're creating learning environments where AI is a tool that reveals rather than replaces the unique value of human thinking. This enables stronger research and more effective teaching, while emphasizing the human and communal aspects of the BGU experience that no algorithm can replicate. Negev-Anchored Impact. We are evolving to achieve symbiotic excellence, with world-class scholarship emerging through engagement with regional challenges. Our research on desert agriculture, water security, and multicultural social dynamics both becomes globally competitive and leads to immediate community transformation. The recently launched Prisma Negev initiative exemplifies this approach, creating partnerships with more than 40 local governments and community organizations. This provides authentic contexts for discovery and learning while serving national priorities, demonstrating that academic excellence and regional engagement enhance rather than compete with each other. Entrepreneurial Agency. We are embedding entrepreneurial thinking as institutional DNA rather than specialized programming. Building on the proven success of Yazamut 360°, we are cultivating the capacity to identify meaningful problems, marshal resources, and build solutions across our entire community. Every student develops these capabilities. Every faculty member has paths from research discovery to real-world implementation. Every administrator cultivates experimental approaches to institutional challenges. This entrepreneurial agency cultivates the mindset and skills needed to translate knowledge into action. We continue to realize David Ben-Gurion's vision of a great university that combines academic excellence with transformative social impact. We are not choosing between research excellence and regional engagement. Instead, we are proof that these goals enhance each other when pursued with wisdom, commitment, and strategic focus. We are not just a university that prepares students for the future; we empower them to shape it: grounded in excellence, connected to purpose, and committed to the flourishing of all our communities. With gratitude for your partnership in this defining chapter,

Dear Friends of Ben-Gurion University, As I stand for reelection to a third and final term as President, I find myself reflecting less on what we have accomplished, though that story is remarkable, and more on what we must now build. This final term is both a privilege and a responsibility. It offers the opportunity to transform vision into permanent institutional architecture that will serve BGU long after my presidency concludes. BGU was conceived through a daring vision: planting a world class research university in a sparsely populated periphery. This wasn't about establishing yet another university. It was about demonstrating that great institutions don't emerge from ideal conditions, they create them; that knowledge and human potential can transform a geographic periphery into a center of possibility; that a world-class research university can be both the engine and beneficiary of regional transformation. Our first strategic plan, BGU Beyond 50 , transformed BGU's trajectory, a trajectory maintained across all key performance indicators. Today, as we move into Strategy 2.0, we return to Ben-Gurion's founding insight by institutionalizing it. Where our first plan built reputation, our second builds permanent capacity. Where the first demonstrated what's possible, we now aim to make it inevitable. This transition has taken place alongside ongoing geopolitical disruption that has, most recently, forced a delay to the start of our spring semester and the postponement of our Board of Governors meeting, underscoring both the challenges we face and the resilience of our community. Strategy 2.0 positions BGU as a "Fifth Wave University," an institution that transcends traditional boundaries between academic excellence and societal impact. While maintaining our commitment to the highest standards of scholarship and discovery, we recognize that today's challenges require universities that actively engage with their communities and regions. This vision spans three integrated dimensions. The AI-Resilient University. In an age when machines can process infinite information instantly, we are embedding into our institutional culture an emphasis on what makes us irreplaceable: wisdom, judgment, ethical reasoning, and the capacity to place knowledge in human context. We're not resisting technological

Prof. Daniel Chamovitz