Visit by President Asher Cohen of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Published: December 27, 2017

(from left) VP Ohtake, Acting Rector Shagrir, President Cohen, President Mishima, and Mr. Rosen

President Asher Cohen and Acting Rector Oron Shagrir of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Culture and Science Affairs Attache Arie Rosen from the Embassy of Israel in Japan, and two other embassy delegates visited Tokyo Tech to meet with President Yoshinao Mishima and Vice President for Research Development Naoto Ohtake on November 28.

The delegation aimed to explore possible collaboration between the two universities.

After brief overviews of each university by the presidents, attendees actively exchanged views on university internationalization, research organization and funding, technology transfer, collaboration with industry, among other topics.

Expressing his wish to send more students of his university abroad for study or research, Cohen showed his interest in Tokyo Techʼs two English-taught programs, the International Graduate Program (IGP) and the Global Scientists and Engineers Program (GSEP), which was launched in April 2016. Mishima explained Tokyo Techʼs internationalization efforts, touching on the expansion of the number of classes taught in English at the graduate level.

The two presidents then discussed possible collaborative activities through student and research exchanges.

Enjoying discussions

Given a book on Dr. Albert Einstein, one of the founders of the Hebrew University, at the end of the meeting, Mishima shared an episode of Dr. Einsteinʼs visit to Tokyo Tech in 1922 with Cohen.

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, established in Israel in 1925, is a comprehensive national university with 23,000 students in six campuses. The university has produced many excellent researchers including eight Nobel Prize laureates.