Ben-Gurion University of the Negev the Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies, and the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism. Ben-Gurion University was established in 1969 as the University of the Negev with the aim of promoting the development of the Negev desert that comprises more than sixty percent of Israel. The University was later renamed after Israel's founder and first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, who believed that the future of the country lay in this region. After Ben-Gurion's death in 1973, the University was renamed Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. In 2016, long-time friends, the late Dr. Howard and
Negev Bedouin students. Program's leaders admit that only a professional from within the society can fully understand the intricacies of its unique situations. Additionally, a new Harvard University campus will be established in Rahat inside Idan haNegev industrial zone in the coming years. It will be the first campus built in this Bedouin city. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev will oversee the new campus' operations, and it will be considered a BGU branch. A few years ago the Association of Academics for the Development of Arab Society in the Negev (AHD) has established a new science high school at the Shoket Junction.