BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY | THE WAY FORWARD

INTERNATIONALIZATION Recruitment, research excellence, our ability to become a talent magnet, and more rely on internationalization. In recent years, the University’s internationalization efforts have been challenged by widespread anti-Israel sentiment and antisemitism, but despite these difficulties, impressive strides have been made. We are pleased to report that the number of international students studying at BGU has demonstrated clear and sustained growth between 2013 and 2025, a trend evident across all graduate degree levels. Initiating new academic degree programs and courses offered in English has improved our efforts to recruit international students. The importance of this was demonstrated with the 2021 inauguration of a new master’s degree program in African Studies offered in English, which became an instant success. Other courses open to the international community provide an opportunity to share our researchers’ expertise, expand BGU’s reach, and raise the University’s global profile. The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), Water & the Environment: Current Challenges and Solutions, which piloted in 2021, has been highly successful, and it is now offered twice a year; hundreds of students globally have participated in this course, which is taught in English with subtitles in Hebrew, Arabic, and Chinese. In addition, in 2026, City Sense, an international course on smart cities offered by the Goldman Sonnenfeldt School of Sustainability and Climate Change was held at Mandel University in the Czech Republic and open to BGU graduate students. While visiting international delegations have typically paved the way to strategic partnerships, MoUs, and joint initiatives, recent years have seen greater emphasis on strategic academic visits by President Prof. Chamovitz and Prof. Michal Bar-Asher Siegal, Vice President for Global Engagement. Visits have been made to leading universities across the US, Europe, India, and more, resulting in new international collaborations and expanded partnerships. These visits also serve as a vehicle for academic diplomacy, providing an opportunity to counter misinformation

in the academic arena. Collaborations with international partners open the door to new opportunities and provide access to additional resources and expertise, thereby increasing our research capacity. Our partners, international students, and postdoctoral researchers become informal ambassadors of Israel and BGU in their home countries, raising positive awareness, building bridges, serving as a conduit for new collaborations and partnerships. Each encounter has the ability to improve BGU’s international stature, raise awareness of the University, and strengthen our efforts to become a talent magnet. While BGU has numerous flourishing collaborations, we are pleased to introduce two of the recently established partnerships An MoU between BGU and Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) was signed in 2022, and the next year, an 18-member delegation, led by President Chamovitz and supported by a BGU donor, traveled to Ecuador and the Galápagos to advance research collaboration in sustainability. In just a few short years, this has become a robust scientific partnership. A recent study led by BGU Prof. Ariel Kushmaro and his team, with collaborators from the Galápagos and around the world, found human made chemical pollutants in the waters around the Galápagos Islands, including in protected sites closed to tourism and human activity, demonstrating both how marine pollution can travel far beyond its source and the need for protective measures. The team is currently investigating additional areas in the Galápagos, and grant applications have been submitted to the Galápagos authorities to advance this research. Two BGU students have been involved in this important work, with one having the remarkable opportunity to participate in the water sampling along with her USFQ colleagues. In addition, in the fall of 2023, the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research (ZIWR) welcomed six Ecuadorian graduate students. These students have been working with Dr. Elad Levintal, Prof. Avner Ronen, and Prof. Edo Bar-Zeev and investigating a wide range of topics. The ZIWR benefiting from donor support below. Universidad San Francisco de Quito Collaboration

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