The story
TAU's origins date back to 1956, when three research institutes: the Tel Aviv School of Law and Economics (established in 1935), the Institute of Natural Sciences (established in 1931), and the Academic Institute of Jewish Studies (established in 1954) – joined to form Tel Aviv University. Initially operated by the Tel Aviv municipality, the university was granted autonomy in 1963, and George S. Wise was its first president, from that year until 1971. The main campus, covering an area of 170-acre (0.69 km2) was established that same year. Its succeeding presidents have been Yuval Ne'eman from 1971 to 1977, Haim Ben-Shahar from 1977 to 1983, Moshe Many from 1983 to 1991, Yoram Dinstein from 1991 to 1999, Itamar Rabinovich from 1999 to 2006, Zvi Galil from 2006 to 2009, Joseph Klafter from 2009 to 2019, and Ariel Porat since 2019.
The university also maintains academic supervision over the Center for Technological Design in Holon, the New Academic College of Tel Aviary, and the Afeka College of Engineering in Tel Aviv. The Wise Observatory is located in Mitzpe Ramon in the Negev desert.
In October 2023 the university launched the "Erez" program, in which around 200 candidates for Israel Defense Forces combat officer positions complete bachelor's degrees in the humanities and social sciences before beginning officers' training.
This university lies on part of the land of the Palestinian village Al-Shaykh Muwannis, which was abandoned in March 1948 due to the threats of Jewish militias.
From Wikipedia’s article on Tel Aviv University, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4