The campus of the University of Haifa spreads along a Carmel Mountain ridge southeast of the city of Haifa and is surrounded by the Carmel National Park. The University was established in 1963 under the joint auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Haifa Municipality. In 1972, it gained academic accreditation as a separate institution from the Council for Higher Education.

The University of Haifa is the most pluralistic institution of higher education in Israel: sons and daughters of both veteran cities and development towns, kibbutzim and moshavim, new immigrants, Jews, Arabs, and Druzes, IDF officers and security personnel – all sitting together on the bench of knowledge in an atmosphere of coexistence, tolerance, and mutual respect.