BGU | PRESIDENT'S REPORT 2023

TAL BEN-HAIM

DIRECTOR- GENERAL

If we move quickly, we will see growth this year. We have put together a multi-pronged plan for success, including an integrated and aggressive marketing plan to encourage registration; created new attractive programs and services for students and researchers, including for soldiers and students from abroad; invested in improving a sense of security for students; and helped researchers receive grants to maximize their research options and outputs. At the same time, BGU has launched an aggressive global campaign to raise $100 million annually through philanthropy. We also plan to merge the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev and BGN Technologies to achieve new investment in the biotech area. We will also increase investments in startups in general. Finally, we plan to leverage the University's real estate assets, as well as creatively and effectively invest the University's funds. Over the past year, the physical development of the University continued – we are watching our dreams become a reality with every brick. In May, the cornerstone was laid for a new, 3,800-square meter, translational medical research building that will bring together BGU scientists and clinicians from Soroka University Medical Center. The building is being built on the Soroka campus, adjacent to the Faculty of Health Sciences, thanks to the support of the Adelis Foundation and named after its founder André Cohen Deloro.

The core goal of the Director-General’s office is to help chart BGU's path toward being one of the best universities in the world – a focus set by President Daniel Chamovitz. The past year since stepping into the role of my predecessor, David Bareket, has been a busy year of progress; we managed to keep the budget balanced and increase revenue streams so that we can realize this critical vision. Two factors that determine the portion of our budget received from the government are our enrollment and research output. While BGU has experienced a decline in students, the University has seen a spike in its research output. So, while fewer students translates to less money from the Planning and Budgeting Committee of Israel's Council for Higher Education, the latter means increased funding that could ultimately keep the University in the green.

Research Funding Growth

New research proposals

2022

1,372

2021

1,264

New research contracts

2022

504

2021

441

22

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev