Approximately 20,000 Ben-Gurion University of the Negev students will begin their studies at the start of the new school year this coming Sunday, including 38 in the Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies in Sede Boqer and 640 at the University’s Eilat campus. The new school year will start with a 4.5% increase in the number of undergraduate students.
BGU President Prof. Rivka Carmi, “After a summer in which many programs were disrupted because of the war in the South and after most of the missed classes and examinations have been made up, we are looking forward to starting the new school year on the right foot. Rich and varied academic programs and fascinating research topics combined with exciting community events on campus promise an interesting and enjoyable year. Community involvement and action will add even more meaning to academic life and contribute to the special experience of higher education at the dynamic and developing Ben-Gurion University in the new Negev being built before our eyes.”
There has been an encouraging trend – more applications from highly qualified undergraduate candidates and they will be rewarded: The University has raised NIS 1 million in scholarship funding.
Regarding advanced degrees students, “We have more to offer academically in the different research areas, and that is the primary reason for the improvement in the quality of research students. What’s more, additional funds were raised with which we can increase the scholarships for advanced degree students,” says Academic Secretary Prof. Ariel Feldestein.
Feldestein notes that the biggest Faculties are Engineering Sciences and Humanities and Social Sciences. More than 5,600 will study engineering; 5,190 will study humanities and social sciences. The Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management will teach 1,700 students and the Faculty of Health Sciences 2,400. 2,300 students will study in the Faculty of Natural Sciences.
Among the new undergraduate tracks at the University this year: An honors program in Middle East Studies, “Lightning-Materials” program (a joint program of the Materials and Mechanical Engineering Departments), and Tunneling Sciences in collaboration with Israel Railways.
New advanced degree programs include: cybersecurity, and business and data analytics.
“We are encouraged by the fact that the number of students who will be studying here is slightly higher than last year, despite a slight drop in the number of registrants,” says Feldestein.
