In the first half of this decade, the University took on an assignment mandated by the Council for Higher Education, but willingly undertaken: this was to vastly expand the student body. And in the course of five years, the number of students climbed from around 7,000 to more than 12,000. The University then rested, to be able to absorb this dizzying growth rate.

The University now seeks another doubling of population. This time, the focus of attention is the Department of Computer Sciences, which this past year enjoyed its first independence of the Mathematics Department. It is scheduled to grow from a present enrollment of 800 to some 1,600 in two years.

According to University President Yehuda Hayuth, the projected growth is in line with the national challenge to train scientists and engineers for the high-tech field. “Our present efforts will within two years make us one of the leaders in training specialists for the computer and high-tech fields in Israel,” the newly re-elected President told the Governors at their annual meting.

Manifesting this emphasis on educating for the future that Hayuth placed in his acceptance speech were these three developments:

0. A design has been chosen for the IBM Science and Technology Center to go up on Campus, and construction of the 10,000-square-meter modernistic building is to start by the Fall.
1. The Law Faculty is introducing a new course of study for the coming year that will combine law and computers, with the select number of students accepted for the program to receive both an LL.B. and a B.A. in Computer Sciences after successfully meeting graduation requirements.
2. The cornerstone was laid during the Governors Meeting for a new building that, in part, will house the Department of Computer Sciences and contain the appropriate sophisticated equipment to advance teaching and research in this field.

If the President receives an appropriate response from the University’s friends and graduates to be able to implement these and other plans, it will be well on its way to meeting the needs and challenges of Israeli society and the Israeli economy in the 21^st century.