Chinese Education Fund to grant scholarships in the amount of 8 million dollars for Chinese students that will study at Technion

33The gift agreement was signed in the presence of Haifa city Mayor and the Mayor of the city of Handan, China, the Technion President and the Donor (Zhao Hanqing)

The Hanqing International Education Foundation will provide scholarships in the amount of 8 million dollars to Chinese students coming to study at Technion. The gift agreement was signed today in the presence of Mr. Yona Yahav, the Mayor of Haifa, Professor Peretz Lavie, Technion’s President, Chinese businessman Zhao Hanqing, and Hui Jian, Mayor of Handan, China, the birthplace of the donor.

According to the agreement, the scholarships will support excellent Chinese students accepted to study at Technion, upon having met the university’s strict entrance criteria. In its initial phase, the students chosen to receive these scholarships will be those pursuing advanced degrees (Masters and Ph.D.s). They will receive an annual scholarship and financial support in the amount of $35,000 (each), to cover all of their expenses during the year.  Initially, the fund will support five students each year, and this number is expected to gradually grow until it reaches 25 students within five years time. An Executive Council will be appointed to oversee the Fund’s operations, comprised of six individuals of which three will be from Technion and three from the Foundation. This agreement is for 20 years.

Technion’s President, Professor Peretz Lavie, thanked Chinese businessman Zhao Hanqing for this generous gift and said, “This is a historic agreement that will enable Chinese students to study and do research at Technion. The Technion played a fundamental role in the development of Israel, and I am certain that Chinese students studying here at Technion will learn valuable tools and skills that will help them in advancing the development of their country.”

The Mayor of Haifa, Mr. Yona Yahav, welcomed the agreement, and said, “Haifa is home to the greatest numbers of Nobel Laureates in Israel. Shanghai is our twin city and we are excited to expand our cooperation with the city of Handan. We are building a life sciences park in the city center, which will transform Haifa into Israel’s number one university city.”

The Mayor of Handan, Mr. Hui Jian, said, “This agreement is the beginning of a greater cooperation between the cities of Haifa and Handan, and between China and Israel. Handan is a city with a population of ten million people, and we are intending to undergo an industrial transformation that will move the city’s industry base from energy, mining and textiles, to high-technology industries centered on computing and biomedicine. We view the Chinese students that will study here at Technion as the future leaders of this process.

Mr. Zhao Hanqing thanked the Technion for its cooperation and said that it is not surprising that Technion is considered among the best technological universities in the world. He added that he is confident that the excellent Chinese students that will arrive to the Technion following this agreement, will apply the vast knowledge base they would absorb during their studies here, to advance the economic development of his country.

Professor Boaz Golany, Technion Vice President for External Relations & Resource Development said that he is confident that the Chinese students who will come to study at Technion will strengthen the ties of cooperation between the two countries.

Last week, Mme. Gao Yanping, Chinese Ambassador to Israel, was hosted at the Technion. She spoke about the growing technological cooperation between China and Israel and large potential for academic cooperation between the Technion and China. “The enrollment period for the summer term at Chinese universities have recently come to a close. Out of nine million candidates, seven million were accepted,” she said with pride. “Technion is a world-class technological institution,” she added. “If I would be able to turn back time, I would have liked to have been a student here.”

Photo: Signing the agreement (from right to left) – Professor Arnon Bentur, Technion Executive Vice President & Director General, Mr. Zhao Hanqing, Technion President Professor Peretz Lavie, Mr. Hui Jian, Mayor of Handan, China, and Mr. Yona Yahav, Mayor of Haifa. Photographed by: Yoav Bachar, Technion Spokesperson’s Office