University rankings {{Infobox university rankings BGU has been ranked 320th in the world, 70th in Asia and 4th in Israel according to the 2016
QS World University Rankings. BGU also ranked 31st overall in the ranking of young universities according to the 2016 QS "Top 50 Under 50" and the only one in Israel to date. BGU is ranked between 101st and 150th overall in computer science according to the 2015
Academic Ranking of World Universities in Computer Science for four consecutive years.
Faculties, schools, research institutes and centers Ben-Gurion University has five faculties with 51 academic departments and units: Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Faculty of
Health Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and
Social Sciences and the Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management. Ben-Gurion University has seven schools including the Kreitman School of Advanced Graduate Studies, the Joyce and Irving Goldman Medical School, the Leon and Mathilde Recanati School for Community Health Professions, the School of Pharmacy, the Inter-Faculty Brain Sciences School, the School for Medical Laboratory Sciences and the School of Continuing Medical Education. Ben-Gurion University has eight research institutes including the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, the Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism, and Heksherim – The Research Institute for Jewish and Israeli Literature and Culture. In 2024, the university launched a new medical school program designed specifically to serve recent immigrants to Israel. The initiative, aimed at addressing physician shortages and easing the professional transition for olim, was made possible by a major philanthropic gift from Israeli industrialist Sami Sagol. In 1978 Prof. Alfred Inselberg, then with the Faculty of Mathematics, together with Dr. Sam Bergman and Dr. Avraham Melkman initiated the
Computer Science program which by 1982 had attracted more than 200 students. Notably, this was the first university program in Israel where students were taught
Pascal, used terminals rather than punch-card machines and where the first Computer Graphics Laboratory in Israel was established. This was the genesis of Computer Science education at Ben-Gurion University which eventually led to a separate Department of Computer Science.
The Medical School for International Health (MSIH) The Medical School for International Health grew out of collaborations between faculty at Ben-Gurion University and Columbia University. A joint global health and medical care program, it was established in 1997. The MSIH is a four-year, North American-style medical school that incorporates global health coursework into all four years of the medical school curriculum. It is an English-language collaboration between Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Faculty of Health Sciences and
Columbia University Irving Medical Center and is located in
Beersheba,
Israel. The school enrolls more than 30 students each year. Most of the students are from the United States, with several from Canada and other countries. In October 2018, The Medical School for International Health celebrated 20 years of existence, by holding a two-day seminar to recognize its achievements and bring together its many partners from around the world. The event concluded with the Physicians' Oath Ceremony (not to be confused with a White Coat Ceremony) by the Class of 2022. In October 2019, the 21st cohort of MSIH (Class of 2023) took their Physician's Oath at a special ceremony on campus. For the first time in the program's history, the faculty presented each student of the class with an actual White Coat emblazoned with the MSIH logo.
Interdisciplinary research centers There are sixty one interdisciplinary research centers at Ben-Gurion University including: the S. Daniel Abraham International Center for Health and Nutrition, the Robert H. Arnow Center for Bedouin Studies and Development, the Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center, the Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought, the Esther and Sidney Rabb Center for Holocaust and Redemption Studies, the Edmond J. Safra Center for the Design and Engineering of Functional Biopolymers, the Reimund Stadler Minerva Center for Mesoscale Macromolecular Engineering and the Zlotowski Center for Neurosciences.
International programs BGU International has worked to increase the number of academic programs available to international students, in English instruction. The programs include: the Albert Katz International School of Desert Studies, the Medical School for International Health, the Israel Studies Masters Program, the African Sustainable Communities MA Program, the MBA International Program, and BGU International's Summer Programs, Semester Study Abroad, and Academic Internship programs. The university hosts students from nearly 70 countries. ==Publications==