From December 25^th to 29^th, 2016, Jilin University (JLU) Vice President Wu Zhenwu, at invitation, led the delegation to visit Tel Aviv University (TAU), Israel Institute of Technology (IIT) and The Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC).

Tel Aviv University (TAU) is the largest comprehensive university in Israel, and is a higher education institute combining teaching and scientific research. Its Department of History and East Asian Studies is among the top in Israel, with the largest size of department and the most students majoring in Chinese. Raanan Rein, Vice President of TAU, met with the delegation and introduced the leading disciplines of TAU as well as fields of study possible for cooperation. Both sides reached initial agreement on issues such as research cooperation and joint training programs for key disciplines like archeology and philosophy as well as the Chinese language training program for exchange students from TAU in JLU. They also expressed hope that the two universities could sign a cooperative agreement to deepen communications, and that the cooperation in key disciplines like archeology and philosophy could serve as a start, from which more disciplines could be included in the future. Danna Mattas-Applerot, Asian desk in the international office of TAU, Asaf Goldschimdt (Guo Zhisong), host-country director of Confucius Institute, and Wu Yang, Chinese director of Confucius Institute also met with the delegation.

Israel Institute of Technology (TIIT) was founded in 1912 in Haifa with the help of the renowned scientist Albert Einstein. It is a technology institute with three professors who had won Nobel Prize of Chemistry. TIIT is among the top in fields such as computer science, biology, chemistry, mechanical engineering and medical science. According to a survey targeting at innovative and entrepreneurial talents conducted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, TIIT ranks 6^th in the world. Rafi Nave, Manager of the Entrepreneurship Center at TIIT, and Yoke Tyng Frechtel, Officer for Recruitment and Marketing (Asia) in International Office of TIIT, met the delegation. TIIT is considered as one of the leading entrepreneur-friendly ecosystems in the world and an incubator for future successful entrepreneurs. Rafi Nave briefly introduced and shared some of their entrepreneurship and innovation programs, and also welcomed JLU students to attend their entrepreneur and innovation training programs, so that the great minds of excellent students from all around the world could be pooled together to generate sparkling ideas. He also expressed hope that Chinese and Israeli students could use the summer programs to deepen communications, and that both sides could push forward the development of joint postgraduate training programs in key disciplines such as chemistry and medical science. The delegation also appreciated TIIT students’ science projects and watched a short video about the latest research achievement.

Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC) is a higher education institute with the largest international student enrollment in Israel. It pays close attention to students’ individual development, provides abundant resources and hires excellent professors and entrepreneurs from around the world to instruct the students. IDC has been cooperating with JLU for a long time, and has set up a China-Israel Joint Research Center for Entrepreneur and Innovation. Professor Mario Mikulincer, Vice President of IDC, met with JLU delegation and gave a general introduction of the center’s current development. He hoped that both sides could further exchange and cooperate in, for example, conducting joint supervisor training programs in humanities. Yair Tauman, Dean of Alderson School of Entrepreneurship, expressed hope that a platform could be built to deepen cooperation in innovation and entrepreneurship and to promote the programs such as the innovation and entrepreneur training programs and joint training programs for faculty and students. Professor Eric Zimmerman, Academic Secretary (vice-provost for academic affairs) and Director of Research at IDC, also met with the delegation and expressed profound interest in deepening the cooperation with JLU. Nili Stein, Executive Director of IDC Continuing Education and Head of International Delegations Department at IDC, introduced the platform provided for the students by the center to bring about their ideas into reality. He also led the delegation to appreciate some hi-tech works of the students, such as 3D printers and robots that could sense emotions through sounds. Yossi Dashti, new Deputy Director of the China-Israel Joint Research Center for Entrepreneur and Innovation, and Christian Jowers, International relations coordinator, accompanied the delegation throughout the process.

Relevant faculty members from College of International Education and School of Foreign Language Education of JLU also joined the visit.