Late one sunny August morning, I pull up at Reichman University – formerly known as IDC, the Interdisciplinary Center – in Herzliya to interview the eponymous university’s president and founder, Prof. Uriel Reichman. Ushered into the comfortable yet understated presidential offices located in a small, unassuming bungalow-type building, I am a bit nervous meeting the school’s famous founder, in whose honor the university has been recently renamed. Reichman, trim and fit at 79, greets me warmly, immediately putting me at ease, and proceeds to take me on a brisk walking tour of the campus.
Reichman is a practiced veteran at leading tours of the lovely campus. We visit a variety of impressive sights, including the colorful Raphael Recanati Avenue of Flags, a stand of 60 flagpoles in front of the International School, bearing the different flags representing the home countries of students from the international program; the Adelson School of Entrepreneurship Building, which also houses the school’s MRI imaging device that will be used for brain research; the Sammy Ofer School of Communications, which contains the school radio studio as well as a fully-equipped television studio; and the impressive 13-story 500-unit residential buildings used primarily by overseas students. School is not in session, but we occasionally see various students in some of the buildings. When they see Prof. Reichman, they instantly greet him, and he, in turn, engages with them, asking them what they are studying and how their work is progressing.
For Reichman, the campus tour is somewhat akin to a parent proudly displaying the achievements of his child. In this case, the comparison is not unwarranted. Professor Reichman founded the Interdisciplinary Center in May of 1994, which began with 240 students studying in the Herzliya barracks of an abandoned military base. Today, the school has more than 8,000 students enrolled in 10 undergraduate and graduate schools and boasts more than 2,000 students in its Raphael Recanati International School, which offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs given in the English language.
In August, the Israeli Council for Higher Education approved a request from IDC to change its status from a college to a university – making it the country’s first private university. Renaming the school as a university reflects its position as a high-level academic research institution that can confer doctoral degrees. In addition, the school officially changed its name to Reichman University, honoring its founder, who officially announced his retirement as president on September 2.
FOR REICHMAN, the campus is much more than a collection of ultramodern buildings. It expresses his personal vision of Zionism and the place of the State of Israel within the overall place of world Jewry. It begins with the International School.
“I established this place as a Zionist university,” says Reichman. “One of the main things that we created was an international program in English. When I started, everyone said that there was no chance. ‘Who will come?’ I said that the problem is the same problem that Hebrew University had – it tried to force the foreign students to study in Hebrew. You can’t force a young person to lose all his intellectual abilities because of language issues. Bring him to Israel, let him learn in English at the highest level, and he will learn the language. Some 70% of those who come to the Recanati School make aliyah.”
The campus is dotted with photos and symbols that express Reichman’s vision of Zionism. For example, a small museum contains an iron printing press brought to Israel by Moses Montefiore in 1842, which was used to print Ha-Havatzelet, the first modern Hebrew newspaper printed in Israel, beginning in 1863. When visitors to the School of Communications visit the display of the radios that were in use when the State of Israel was declared and turn on one of the old-fashioned radios, they hear the radio recording of the historic UN vote for partition in 1947. For Reichman, placing these types of items throughout the campus is more than just decorative Zionism.
“You meet the Zionist story in every corner. It is part of the DNA of the place,” he says, “Zionism at its core.”
It is necessary to remind students of the Zionist story because, he says, “Things that were once clear to me are not as clear to the next generation.”
Uriel Reichman was born in 1942 in Tel Aviv and was in first grade when the State of Israel was declared in May 1948. “At that time,” he says, “the continuity of the Jewish people rested with the future of the Jewish state and the values of volunteerism and responsibility. Reichman says that he built his outlook on life, both before he founded IDC and throughout his presidency, on these principles, which he terms “freedom and responsibility.”
What exactly does Reichman mean by these terms?
“This means,” he says, “that on the one hand, that you believe in the individuality of people – that people can utilize their abilities and mental powers to fulfill themselves in life, while at the same time, retaining their responsibilities according to our Jewish tradition to help others in need of assistance, and a responsibility for the continuing existence and values of the State of Israel. Freedom and responsibility are an inseparable part of our vision of this place.”
In Reichman’s view, the university is educating the future leadership of Israel, and it is important that Israel’s future leaders have these values.
AS WE walk through the campus, I ask the professor if, at its founding 27 years ago, he thought that the school would become as successful as it has become. He sighs and says, “I hoped so.” Reichman, who had a clear vision for IDC from its inception, explains that he composed a list of its principles and goals when it was founded, fulfilling them one by one.
“I notified the board of my resignation,” he says, “after we realized the final goal, which was becoming a university.”
After concluding the campus tour, Reichman pulls out a copy of the original declaration of principles in his office, reading them aloud, listing how the school reached each objective. One of the accomplishments that he is most proud of is the interdisciplinary nature of the school.
“We said that because we want to teach future leadership. You can’t be a leader if you can’t speak to different professionals from only one point of view.”
Reichman predicts that compartmentalized education, such as a law school or business school, or “academic silos,” as he terms them, will end, and all subjects will eventually become interrelated. This is related to what he terms the four major changes impacting education in the 21st century – sustainability, biomedicine, communication, and information technology.
“Science and technology,” he says, “will reshape the teaching of the professions in the social sciences, and in every field that you touch – psychology, law, business – they will be interwoven with changes taking place.” He adds that the four areas will be interrelated and will require an understanding of all of them.
Reichman University schools and departments range from psychology to law, from business administration to sustainability to counterterrorism, and offers masters and Ph.D. degrees. Reichman is proud of the new disciplines that the school initiated.
“We created new disciplines. No one spoke about counterterrorism as an academic discipline,” he says, referring to the MA program in counterterrorism and homeland security offered by the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy. “No one thought of entrepreneurship as something that you can teach,” he says, referring to the Adelson School of Entrepreneurship, which offers various academic programs to prepare students for successful careers in entrepreneurship-related roles. Suddenly, everyone started copying us.”
He says that IDC’s school of communication expanded beyond the ideas of mass communication into concepts of human-computer interaction (HCI).
“We created an interdisciplinary community working together putting new ideas on the table and new disciplines, moving our small contribution for civilization forward, and teaching the next generation to be very interdisciplinary, normative, entrepreneurial – all of it together with a set of values together based on the foundations of our national existence.”
REICHMAN WAS a lecturer and dean of the Faculty of Law at Tel Aviv University from 1985 to 1990, before founding Ramot Mishpat Law School, the first private college of its kind in Israel, not subsidized by the government. In the mid-1980s, Prof. Reichman initiated and led the team that formulated a proposal for an Israeli constitution. In 1992, the Knesset passed legislation that turned part of the proposed constitution into Basic Laws.
He has had many years of experience in higher education in Israel and replies positively when asked for his opinion on the condition of academics in this country.
“Academic competition is fierce, insofar as how we are seen internationally. We have fierce competition with universities in China and the Far East, not just with the US and Europe. Israel is producing well in comparison to its size and resources. We are making major contributions to international science and creativity, and we have some leading departments in various universities. It’s important to continue investing in research.”
He suggests that a large part of IDC’s success lies in the fact that the school is private, independent, and does not depend on government funding.
“We are free to do whatever we believe in without having to ask permission for funding from the Council for Higher Education. We continue to be independent, free-spirited and creative, preserving the special community that was established at IDC,” he says.
He notes that in the past two years, Reichman University graduates have established more than 400 social and business ventures that have created more than 6,000 jobs in Israel and around the world; 13 of these companies have recently entered the exclusive “unicorn” list and are currently valued at more than $1 billion. He suggests that the success that the school’s students have enjoyed derives from what he calls “the special spirit of the place.”
Having officially left office as president, Reichman will remain active in the development of financial resources for the school. After spending the better part of three decades establishing and developing Israel’s first private university, he attempts to convey the message of his struggles to the next generation. Establishing IDC, gaining undergraduate and graduate degree status, and ultimately, gaining university status, says Reichman, was an uphill struggle against the Israeli academic bureaucracy. Nevertheless, he persisted and cites his persistence as an example of his doctrine of “freedom and responsibility.”
“The message that I want to go forward is how important it is to be an independent school and to tell the young people that are going on their life’s journey to believe in what they are doing, as I did. It has been a difficult trip against all odds, but if you believe in something – if you stick to it and fight for it, for the public good, not for individual gain – this is the lesson to show as a personal example that we provided here. Don’t be afraid of difficulties. Make your life a life of value.”