IDC Herzliya to become university following state approval

Israel’s Council for Higher Education approved a move on Tuesday that will turn the private Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya college into a recognized university, under a new name.

Named Reichman University, after its founder and president Uriel Reichman, the college will become Israel’s first private university.

“The IDC is suitable as a university, guaranteeing excellent academic and research standards that meet the required standards for a university,” the council wrote in its decision on Tuesday.

In 2018, the IDC was authorized by the council to offer Ph.D. degrees in law, computer science and psychology, but was not permitted to brand itself as a university.

“Recognizing the Herzliya IDC as a university is an important milestone in the evolution of the Israeli higher education system,” Amnon Rubinstein, the institution’s board chair, said in a statement. “Israel now joins the countries that have excellent private elite institutions besides the state-funded institutions.”

As a private institution, its annual tuition starts at some NIS 42,000 ($13,000), compared to the flat rate of NIS 10,200 ($3,500) at public Israeli universities for a bachelor’s degree.

The IDC was founded by Reichman in 1994. Some 8,300 students currently attend the institution, and, since its founding, at least 32,000 have graduated, the institution said.