In October 2014, seven of Israel’s leading higher education institutions will head to China to promote study opportunities for Chinese students at the China Education Expo, the largest education expo of its kind in China. This is the second time Israel will have a national pavilion at the Expo, reflecting the increased focus of Israeli higher education institutions on attracting Chinese students.

In recent years, encouraged by Israeli Government scholarship programs for Chinese students, there has been significant growth in the amount of Chinese students studying in Israeli higher education institutions. 350 scholarships are available annually to Chinese (and Indian) students for undergraduate and graduate degrees and short-term summer courses in a variety of fields and universities. Up to 100 post-doctoral fellowships are also available annually for study in all areas of research (for more information see here).

So what does Israel have to offer Chinese students who are interested in studying abroad? Israel has a long tradition of academic excellence, boasting world class universities, colleges and research institutes. Two of its universities (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Technion) are ranked in the top 100 universities in the world, and another four in the top 500. Israel has high global rankings in scientific publications per capita and number of citations per paper. Eight Israelis have been awarded Nobel Prizes in the fields of Chemistry and Economics since 2002.

Israel provides a dynamic and stimulating environment for international students. Known as the ‘Start-Up Nation’, Israel excels in innovation and technology in a wide range of fields including internet and communications technology, bio and nanotechnology, clean technologies, and agritech. It is a hotbed of innovative activity, with the world’s highest R&D expenditure to GDP, world’s largest number of companies on the NASDAQ outside the US, the 5^th country in the world in terms of patents per capita, and a huge number of local hi-tech companies.

Most Israeli universities and colleges provide a diversity of programs in English for international students at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, ranging from summer courses to full degrees.

There are about 20 international undergraduate programs in several disciplines, such as Electrical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering, Literature and Linguistics, Music, Social Sciences, and others.

There are more than 60 international graduate programs in various disciplines such as: Middle Eastern History, Conflict Resolution and Mediation, MBA and IMBA, Desert Studies, Communication Studies, Environmental Engineering, Physical Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Life Sciences, Mathematics, Computer Sciences, and more.

Israeli universities also welcome international students for PhD and postdoctoral research, and assign them with some of the leading researchers in their fields.

The Israeli delegation to the Expo (including the following institutions: The Hebrew University, The Technion, Tel Aviv University, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Bar Ilan University, Haifa University and the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya) will participate in the Expo events in Beijing (25-26 October) and Shanghai (1-2 November). We look forward to welcoming prospective students and discussing all the opportunities Israel has to offer!

For more information on the participating institutions please see here.