Tsinghua President receives honorary doctorate from Tel Aviv University

Tsinghua President Qiu Yong was presented with an honorary doctorate from Tel Aviv University in a conferment ceremony on May 18.

The honorary doctorate is the first of its kind to be awarded to a Chinese national by Tel Aviv University, Israel’s largest public university. The award highlights President Qiu’s research contributions in photochemistry and organic optoelectronics, and his efforts for promoting education cooperation between Israeli universities and Tsinghua University. Other recipients this year include Tony Abbott, former Prime Minister of Australia, Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank, and Ratan Tata, former Chairman of the Tata Group.

During this visit to Israel, President Qiu also met with Israeli President, Reuven Rivlin and briefed the President Rivlin on Tsinghua’s developments in education and international cooperations, especially the cooperation between Tsinghua University and Tel Aviv University in innovation and research. President Rivlin spoke highly of Tsinghua’s progress and expressed his hope that more collaborations could be built between Israel universities and Tsinghua University in the coming years.

The award ceremony coincided with the second China-Israel Innovation Forum.

President Qiu co-chairs the China-Israel Innovation Forum alongside Tel Aviv University President Joseph Klafter, a platform that promotes academic, industrial and governmental collaboration between the two countries in the fields of technology and innovation. Also present at the forum was the Chinese Ambassador to Israel Mr. Zhang Yongxin.

Tsinghua University is also a member of the 7 + 7 Research University Alliance, a research collaboration comprising of seven research universities from both countries.

(Contributors:  Alexis See Tho, Hannah)