Tel Aviv University is the largest university in Israel and the biggest Jewish university in the world. It is a major center of teaching and research, comprising nine faculties, 106 departments, and 90 research institutes. Its origins go back to 1956, when three small education units - The Tel Aviv School of Law and Economics, an Institute of Natural Sciences, and an Institute of Jewish Studies - joined together to form the University of Tel Aviv.
Among the University's 2,200 faculty members are internationally renowned scientists who have made significant contributions to the advancement of knowledge in fields as diverse as particle physics, cell biology, biotechnology, genetics, and fiber optics, as well as in every area of the humanities, social sciences and law. Tel Aviv University operates Israel's largest supercomputer and the only astronomical observatory in the Middle East. Its Cereal Crops Improvement Institute has supplied improved varieties of seed to nations around the world. The University promotes a multidisciplinary approach to research, through centers for brain studies, environmental studies, cardiac research, cancer research, energy studies, nanoscience, bioinformatics, aging, communications, cultural studies and others, where academic collaboration is breaking down outmoded barriers between disciplines. The University enjoys extensive research contacts with leading academic and scientific institutions abroad, including over 150 cooperation agreements with universities in North and South America, Europe and the Far East.