Reichman University: Israel's Private Research Anchor

Reichman University, Herzliya · Founded 1994 as the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya · Renamed Reichman University 2021 · Israel's first private research university and the academic anchor of the Herzliya innovation belt.

Reichman University in Herzliya — founded 1994 as the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC) by Israeli legal scholar Uriel Reichman, and renamed Reichman University in 2021 — is Israel's first non-public research university. Its founding was the institutional expression of a specific thesis: that Israel's higher-education system, at the time entirely public and structurally slow-moving, required a private-sector alternative capable of running interdisciplinary programs at market pace. Across three decades, Reichman has grown into one of Israel's operating research universities, with particular concentration in computer science (through the Efi Arazi School of Computer Science), business (the Adelson School of Entrepreneurship), government and diplomacy, and law. The University's Herzliya campus is embedded in the Herzliya Pituach technology belt — one of Israel's largest concentrations of technology company headquarters and startup operations.

Institution Snapshot

Founded	1994 as the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC) by Uriel Reichman; renamed Reichman University in 2021
Institutional character	Israel's first private (non-public) research university
Main campus	Herzliya, Israel — in the heart of the Herzliya-Tel Aviv innovation belt
Schools	Efi Arazi School of Computer Science · Adelson School of Entrepreneurship · Harry Radzyner Law School · Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy · Arison School of Business · Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology · Sammy Ofer School of Communications · Sagol School of Sustainability
Enrollment	Approximately 10,000 students — one of Israel's larger private-sector academic operations
Location advantage	Herzliya campus embedded in the Herzliya Pituach commercial technology belt
Founder pipeline	The Adelson School and the Herzliya-belt adjacency produce one of Israel's highest founder-formation rates per graduating class

Why Reichman matters

Reichman University's institutional character — private-sector, interdisciplinary, structurally connected to the Herzliya commercial belt — makes it one of the operating academic anchors of the Israeli startup ecosystem specifically. The Efi Arazi School of Computer Science supplies engineering talent; the Adelson School of Entrepreneurship supplies founder-formation training; the Lauder School of Government supplies the diplomatic and policy talent pool.

Uriel Reichman Founded Israel's First Private University in 1994 — It Took Three Decades to Get Full Recognition

Reichman was founded in 1994 as the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya by Uriel Reichman — the Israeli legal scholar and public figure whose long-standing conviction was that Israel's higher-education system required a private-sector alternative to the entirely public university system that had characterized Israeli academia since the founding of Hebrew University in the 1920s. The founding was contentious and structurally novel: no private research university had operated in Israel before, and the regulatory and institutional pathways for one required substantial policy work across the founding decade.

The institution's renaming to Reichman University in 2021 — accompanied by formal recognition as a full research university — marked the completion of the institutional trajectory Uriel Reichman had built the IDC to pursue. The University now operates as a fully accredited Israeli research university across nine schools and multiple graduate programs.

The Efi Arazi School of Computer Science

The Efi Arazi School of Computer Science — named for the Israeli technology entrepreneur Efi Arazi (founder of Scitex and EFI) — is Reichman's academic anchor for computer-science research and teaching. Its research concentrations run across the applied AI categories, computer security, and the intersections with the business, entrepreneurship, and government programs that Reichman's interdisciplinary institutional structure supports. The School's faculty appointments and graduate program feed the Herzliya-belt technology industry with particular density.

The Herzliya Innovation Belt and the Founder Pipeline

Reichman's Herzliya campus is geographically embedded in the Herzliya Pituach commercial technology belt — one of Israel's largest concentrations of technology company headquarters, foreign R&D operations (Microsoft Herzliya, and adjacent operations), and Israeli technology startup companies. The geographic proximity is structural to the University's operating model: substantial percentages of Reichman students take internships and part-time roles inside adjacent Herzliya-belt technology companies during their studies, and the founder pipeline into Israeli startups is one of the institutionally-recognized outcome metrics the University publicly tracks.

The Adelson School of Entrepreneurship — Israel's Most Explicit Founder-Formation Program

The Adelson School of Entrepreneurship is the most explicitly founder-oriented academic program in Israeli higher education. Where the Technion and Tel Aviv University produce founders as a byproduct of deep engineering programs, Reichman's Adelson School treats founder formation as the primary academic output. Its curriculum combines business fundamentals with hands-on startup building, and its graduates disproportionately enter the Israeli startup ecosystem as founders rather than as employees — a structural output that the Herzliya-belt adjacency reinforces.

The Lauder School — Government, Diplomacy, and the Policy Pipeline

The Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy occupies a category that no other Israeli university covers at the same institutional depth. Its graduates populate Israel's diplomatic corps, government ministries, and policy-research institutions. The Herzliya Conference — the annual national-security and policy conference historically associated with IDC/Reichman — has been one of the operative forums for Israeli strategic-policy discussion across the past two decades.

Watch Points

Reichman's AI production capacity across the Efi Arazi School of Computer Science and the interdisciplinary intersections with the Adelson School of Entrepreneurship.
Reichman's ongoing capacity to sustain the private-sector institutional model at the market rate of Israeli higher-education tuition and research-funding levels.
Named senior faculty appointments and departures as the Israeli AI industry competes for the same academic talent pool.
The next generation of Reichman-anchored startup and AI spin-outs.
The Herzliya-belt technology industry's ongoing relationship with the University as a source of engineering and founder talent.

Frequently Asked Questions

When was Reichman University founded?
Reichman was founded in 1994 as the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC) by Israeli legal scholar Uriel Reichman. It was renamed Reichman University in 2021 as part of its recognition as a full research university.

Who founded Reichman University?
Uriel Reichman — Israeli legal scholar and public figure whose long-standing conviction was that Israel's higher-education system required a private-sector alternative to the entirely public university system.

What is Reichman's private-university status?
Reichman is Israel's first private (non-public) research university. It operates outside the public-university system that had characterized Israeli academia since the founding of Hebrew University in the 1920s.

What is the Efi Arazi School of Computer Science?
The Efi Arazi School of Computer Science is Reichman University's academic anchor for computer-science research and teaching. Named for Israeli technology entrepreneur Efi Arazi, founder of Scitex and EFI.

What is the Adelson School of Entrepreneurship?
The Adelson School is Israel's most explicitly founder-oriented academic program. Its curriculum combines business fundamentals with hands-on startup building, and its graduates disproportionately enter the Israeli startup ecosystem as founders.