desert

“It is in the Negev that the creativity and pioneer vigor of Israel shall be tested,” David Ben-Gurion once famously said. Israel’s first prime minister was a passionate advocate of developing the sparsely populated and barren southern desert into a thriving center of learning, technology, culture and innovation. Three decades after his death, a university named in his honor is carrying out his vision. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), with campuses in Beer-Sheva, Sde Boker and Eilat, has as its central mission the goal of developing the Negev by attracting bright scholars to the region, conducting world-class research, promoting industry and agriculture in the desert, improving education, investing in the surrounding immigrant communities, and pioneering green technology and arid zone research.