2012 Israel Studies Conference in Shanghai congratulated

1 January, 1900

Sino-Israel Global Network & Academic Leadership (SIGNAL), co-hosted with Bar Ilan University, Shanghai International Studies University (SHISU) and Fudan University an Israel Studies Conference in June. Thirty leading Israeli and Chinese scholars, as well as Israeli and Chinese executives and energy experts presented papers at the conference, which was lauded as a great success.

The conference, which was co-sponsored by The Israel Project, featured three special panels covering: innovation in Sino-Israeli business, oil alternatives, and energy security. Other sessions focused on exploring how Jewish and Chinese civilization inform policy and relations of modern nation states.

“Israel attaches great importance to academic cooperation between Israel and China, it is a high priority,” said Jackie Eldan, Israel''''''''s Consulate General to Shanghai, who served as a keynote speaker at the conference.

“We congratulate SIGNAL on a brilliant initiative and a well-executed programme, bringing Israel’s best minds together with Chinese scholars, in cooperation with Bar Ilan University and Fudan University. The seminar touched on relevant challenges for China and Israel bringing our cooperation closer to help create a better society and a better future,” Eldan added.

In line with the strengthening commercial bond between China and Israel, Israel studies in China have also been experiencing an upward trend in the world of academia following SIGNAL’s historic establishment of the first Israel Studies Programme (ISP) at a Chinese university, in 2011.

“The establishment of the ISP at Sichuan International Studies University has begun to take shape following two years of hard work, and has gained much media attention in the US, Israel and China alike,” said Dr. Chen Guangmeng, a lecturer at SISU.

SIGNAL has so far launched Israel Studies Programmes at Sichuan International Studies University in Chongqing, Shihezi University in Xinjiang, Henan University, Shanghai International Studies University and Beijing Foreign Studies University.

While these programmes allow for a deeper understanding of Israel in Chinese academia, the number of Chinese research organisations focusing on Israel is also growing steadily. The Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and Henan University both have specialised research centers about Israel and Judaism. SIGNAL routinely takes Israeli scholars to research institutes in China and hosts Chinese delegations from the country’s primary think tanks in Israel, thereby widening the channel of academic exchange between China and Israel.

A year ago, SIGNAL trained three Chinese professors at Bar-Ilan University in order to provide them with specialisation on Israel and Judaism so that they could teach related classes upon their return to China. This year, SIGNAL is expanding the programme by selecting more professors from the large pool of enthusiastic candidates.

“One aspect of SIGNAL’s added value is being able to at once engage scholars in the humanities, business experts in finance and technology, international relations experts and high tech industry leaders. We find points of synergy between Chinese and Israelis on many levels and across various fields,” said SIGNAL’s founder and executive director Carice Witte.

Jewish Times Asia (Issue September 2012)