July 10^th - Chen Liangxian, the Secretary of the CPC Shantou Municipal Committee, met with Peretz Lavie, President of GTIIT Board of Directors and President of Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (Technion), and Li Jiange, Chancellor of GTIIT at the great court of Shantou Municipal Party Committee. They had a close interaction with each other and reached agreements on issues like enrollment, recruitment, construction of the South Campus and establishment of an international school.

During the seminar, on behalf of Shantou Municipal Party Committee and Shantou Government. Chen Liangxian expressed his heartfelt gratitude to president Peretz Lavie and Israeli friends from all walks of life, who are concerned about Shantou and has spared no efforts to support the establishment of GTIIT. He said, on his visit to Technion, he received a warm welcome from president Peretz Lavie and friends from different sectors, as one of the members of Guangdong Delegation joining economic and trading activities in Israel last month. He was deeply touched by the particular charms of this innovative nation and the innovative, civilized, rigorous and responsible spirits of Israeli, which made he resolve to fully support establishment of GTIIT and convinced that Technion is the best partner for us to build a world-class university.

Chen Liangxian pointed out, with the strong support from the Ministry of Education, Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, Guangdong Government and the joint effort from President Peretz Lavie and Chancellor Li Jiange, the construction of the GTIIT North Campus, enrollment and recruitment have been progressing smoothly, which also has aroused great attention from society. Shantou will grasp the opportunity and dedicate to push forward the construction of GTIIT South Campus. Meanwhile, the establishment of an international school, aiming for children of GTIIT foreign faculty, will be put on track. Chen hoped that President Peretz Lavie will continue to support Shantou development and offer more valuable suggestions as a way to pool international quality polytechnic educational resources for GTIIT, cultivate high-level innovative talents and build a world-recognized top-tier research institute, which will enhance Israel-Shantou cooperation in economy, technology and culture.

President Lavie praised the changes of Shantou and expressed his gratitude to the support from Shantou Municipal Party Committee and Shantou Government. He said, a successful university must boast excellent students and teacher, as well as a clear mission. At present, GTIIT has been equipped with features mentioned.  He believed, with joint efforts from both parties, GTIIT will be a powerful driver for innovation of Shantou, Guangdong and even China, and promote friendship between China and Israel.

Before the meeting, Li Gengjian, the member of Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress and deputy mayor of Shantou, met with President Lavie and Chancellor Li, discussing about the current progress of GTIIT. GTIIT has finished the enrollment in Guangdong province and 151 students were admitted, among whom 77 students are from Shantou. Till June, 24 faculty has been recruited, all of them received the Ph.D and have teaching experiences in prestigious universities. 20 of the faculty, namely 83.3%, are from Technion. The faculty recruitment has finished and the preparation for welcoming first students has progressed rapidly.

Officials from Shantou Government, including Qiu Yihui, Lin Yimin, and Huang Heng; Lin Danming, Vice-President of Shantou University; Katherine Lo, representative of Li Ka-Shing Foundation; members of GTIIT Board of Directors and Vice-Chancellors of GTIIT.

Source: Shantou Daily

Photo by: Li Junwei