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.

[8][9] The Ramat Aviv campus, covering an area of 170-acre (0.69 km2), on top of the depopulated and razed Palestinian village of Sheikh Munis, 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.

Faculties Independent schools Tel Aviv University has over 130 research institutes and centers.

[11] The school is overseen by Milette Shamir, the university's vice president of international affairs.

[16] Students in the B.A., M.A., exchange and study abroad programs are given the option of housing at the Einstein or Broshim dorms, just outside the university.

[25] The ratings reflect an overall measure of esteem that combines data on the institutions' reputation for research and teaching.

The school offers a wide variety of courses for its visiting students in strategy, entrepreneurship, finance-accounting, marketing, organizational behavior, decisions and operations research, technology and information systems.

The program also offers courses from other TAU schools on Israeli Culture, History, Economics and more.

In 2013, Tel Aviv University and Ruppin Academic Center jointly created a study center at the Mediterranean Sea, where students will undertake advanced studies of issues impacting the coastal environment and its resources.