Best Possible Training For Tomorrow's World

The students in the first cohort of Reichman University's degree in Economics & Entrepreneurship with Data Science are bold, creative and ambitious, have analytical minds and aren't afraid of math and statistics.

"These people find their tribe in our school, often for the first time in their lives," says Dr. Yossi Maaravi, Dean and co-founder of the Miriam & Sheldon G. Adelson School of Entrepreneurship at Reichman University in Herzliya. "They're dynamic, curious and inventive, constantly asking questions, coming up with ideas, and at the forefront of campus activities. They're driven by a desire to succeed."

It is for this select group that Reichman's Schools of Entrepreneurship and Economics have come together to create a new and demanding double major: Economics & Entrepreneurship with Data Science. Taught in English, its first 50 students will graduate next academic year. All have the robust quantitative, analytical and leadership skills to excel in today's transforming work environment.

Entrepreneurship in action
Reichman University, with its respected Schools of Economics and Entrepreneurship, is a natural for this novel approach. "The university is itself a start-up," notes Maaravi, who is responsible for the new program's entrepreneurship component. "It's in our DNA. We're world leaders in entrepreneurship education."

Israel's first private non-profit institute of higher education, Reichman's approach to education has been innovative and interdisciplinary since its inception. Founded as the Interdisciplinary Center–Herzliya (IDC) 31 years ago by jurist and politician Prof. Uriel Reichman and modelled on US Ivy League schools, it prepares its graduates for leadership in public service and in the private sector.

"When we introduced entrepreneurial education over a decade ago, few colleges anywhere had anything comparable," recalls Maaravi. "Our Adelson School was Israel's first institution focused on the study and development of entre- and intrapreneurship – the creation of new ideas or projects as either independent ventures or within established companies. Most of our internationally regarded faculty are not traditional academics, but successful entrepreneurs, investors and leaders from Israel's vibrant start-up ecosystem."

Designed to give skills and practical tools, Reichman's entrepreneurship students engage with senior industry managers, make industry site visits, join hackathons and, in their final year, collaborate with industry partners in hands-on projects. "We're ranked 41st for entrepreneurship teaching among 30,000 universities worldwide – a placing which rises to seventh when it's filtered for small universities (our student body is around 9,000), because rankings are based on the numbers of entrepreneurs who graduate, companies they found and capital they raise," explains Maaravi.

Yossi Maaravi has taught and trained undergraduate and graduate students for some 20 years in Israel and around the world – including at Princeton University, the National University of Singapore, and the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. An alumnus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University, he researches behavioral decision-making, negotiation, entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation.

But Dr. Maaravi is not only an academic, as he is also actively involved in industry and entrepreneurship. He has founded several ventures and served as a consultant and mentor to dozens of entrepreneurs and executives. His life's project is co-founding Reichman's Adelson School of Entrepreneurship with Prof. Yair Tauman. He also initiated RUNI Ventures, Reichman University's venture capital fund, where he serves as Chairman of the Board.

Beyond the BA degree in entrepreneurship, the Adelson School runs a wide range of programs, including the Zeev honors track with the support of the legendary VC investor Oren Zeev, the Co-Op internship program in start-ups, and the Gaming & Impact initiative in collaboration with Playtika. It also oversees two of Reichman's most established and successful initiatives: the Zell Entrepreneurship Program – one of the world's leading entrepreneurship programs named after the late Mr. Sam Zell – and the student-led Entrepreneurship Club, active for over 25 years, which runs 14 programs, an accelerator, Israel's largest university venture competition, and more.

Strong knowledge of economics
"Developments in the global arena, along with the massive ongoing shift in global job markets, prompted us to combine Economics with Entrepreneurship in one program," says Dr. Yael Hadass. She is the academic head of the Economics programs at the university's Raphael Recanati International School and co-leads Reichman's long-time double major in Economics & Business Administration at its Tiomkin School of Economics.

"With artificial intelligence eliminating many traditional jobs and creating entirely new ones, today's entrepreneurs must be continually able to reinvent themselves as well as reinvent the organizations they lead, and for that they need a strong understanding of the economic and regulatory environment," she explains. "To do this successfully, their entrepreneurial mindset has to be grounded in strong economic knowledge and insight. No matter how the world changes, the main rules of economics will always remain relevant, including how markets work, how consumers and producers make decisions, and how the government affects the business environment. So, a solid grasp of economic fundamentals and expert understanding of the impact of these fundamentals equip entrepreneurs to anticipate, adapt and ultimately emerge stronger in the business environment and the job market."

Even though economics is traditionally perceived as a demanding discipline, it is worth the effort, as it offers depth and rigor that are no less essential for the next generation of workforce leaders, says Hadass, who is passionate about making economic knowledge accessible to all. After earning her PhD in Political Economy and Government at Harvard University, Dr. Hadass chose throughout her career to combine business experience with academia. Concurrent with teaching at Reichman University and other prestigious institutions, including Harvard University and Tel Aviv University, she manages Schocken Publishing in Israel and created the 'Economics For All' initiative to teach financial literacy.

"Everyone should understand how to manage their savings and pensions, interest rates, inflation, management fees, yields and returns, and how all this impacts their bank account," she insists.

Economics is the foundation for starting a business, filling a senior job in both private and public sectors, and understanding regulation, competition and market structure, she continues. "With its Economics, Entrepreneurship & Big Data components, our new degree program is designed to open a range of possibilities. It gives students multi-dimensional understanding of the global economy and business world, high-level data analysis and programming skills and practical real-world skills for running a business and launching a start-up."

International student body
The program is taught in English at Reichman's Raphael Recanati International School to engage a broad and international cohort of students. The program includes a diverse body of students. "Part of the class is composed of young students who start they academic training after high school," says Hadass. "They're high school graduates from all over the world – Europe, North America, Australia, Africa, even China. Another part of the class consists of students who are a few years older. We have lone soldiers who've served three years in IDF combat units and decided to stay in Israel. We have Israelis hoping to pursue international careers, as well as those raised abroad who have returned. For many, it's too early to launch a venture of their own, so they begin by gaining experience elsewhere in the field – entering the business world well-equipped for virtually any role in investment banking, consulting, financial analysis and the high-tech industry."

Reichman, asserts Hadass, offers one of the highest level Economics programs in Israel. With its unique focus on applied economics and research practices, it equips students for economic policy and decision-making in both the public and private sectors.

"Demanding and intellectually challenging, our Economics program gives students strong quantitative and analytical skills, helps them understand how markets work, how prices and quantities are determined and the role of the public sector in shaping the economy. Our Economics graduates find jobs easily, many with the world's top business consulting firms or major investment banks, and they're accepted into postgrad programs in leading European and North American schools." The data science portion (data analysis and big data) requires strong math, she acknowledges, but "our students are very capable. They want to learn. And they're greatly sought after. Companies across many industries actively recruit from our school."

"Entrepreneurship doesn't come naturally to most people," adds Dr. Maaravi. "We identify those with the potential and give them the best possible training for tomorrow's world – a world where intelligent systems eliminate routine tasks, provide real-time insights and handle logistics, communications, task delegation, workflow optimization, data analysis and more – equipping our graduates to take leadership roles in completely new ways."

For more information, visit www.runi.ac.il/en/

Partnered with Reichman University