BGU | VISION TAKES SHAPE

COMMUNITY As in real estate, as in college campuses: It all comes down to location. Specifically, the location of the student body. “Unlike Israel’s other universities, the area around BGU is affordable, so students can and want to live there. The new dorms enable still more students to be part of the campus social life,” explains Barak Dvir, the head of BGU’s Student Union. “With everyone so close, there’s a real sense of community.” Now, the North Campus is set to raise that community to a higher level, offering more flexible and diverse spaces for interaction and bringing opportunities into closer proximity. Beyond the commercial center planned for its Student Village complex, the North Campus will include a convention and cultural center for major events—such as concerts and performances in the winter, currently an impossibility. It will also include a central artery: With green spaces, outdoor amphitheaters, seating areas, and cafes, the Forum will be a layered, informal meeting place for people and ideas, both across BGU departments and between the campus and the wider city. Like the famous yards and quadrangles that play a key part in American college life, the Forum will enhance the BGU’s sense of identity and make it a place where top students from Israel and abroad want to live and learn. For students in the technology fields, however, the North Campus offers yet another key advantage: unparalleled access to the city’s growing high-tech industry. While the city’s Advanced Technologies Park (ATP) is already just a short walk away, the North Campus will now bring ATP companies directly to campus through dedicated spaces for academic-industry collaboration. In this way, it will add yet another dimension to the concept of location: It will position students for success after graduation.

The North Campus’ Student Village

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