A significant development to advance Israel-China coeducation initiatives is underway in the city of Shantou in Guangdong Province, southern China. The official cornerstone-laying and inauguration ceremony for the Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) took place on 16 December 2015.

GTIIT, an historic partnership between the Haifa-based Technion (Technion-Israel Institute of Technology) and Shantou University, will offer high-level, innovative and research-oriented undergraduate and graduate education.

GTIIT will comprise three units: the College of Engineering, the College of Science and the College of Life Science. The initial class of students is planned for this year, with an enrolment plan of 100 students for chemical engineering. At full build, the GTIIT is expected to enrol some 5,000 students, made up of 4,000 undergraduate and 1,000 graduate students.

Shantou University (STU), a keystone project of the Li Ka Shing Foundation (LKSF) and Technion, agreed to jointly develop the GTIIT campus, which will be constructed next to STU. The LKSF grant, estimated to be around US$130 million, is the largest ever to Technion. It is also the highest grant ever given to Israeli higher education, and most significantly the most generous to any Jewish institution anywhere in the world. The grant agreement was signed on 29 September 2013 in Tel Aviv in the presence of Technion President Peretz Lavie, STU Provost Professor Gu Peihua, and Hong Kong philanthropist and businessman Mr Li Ka-shing.

A special welcoming dinner held in Shantou on 15 December 2015 was hosted by Zhu Xiaodan, Governor of Guangdong Province. Attendees included Technion representatives from Israel and the US, Israeli ministers, ambassadors, mayors, diplomats, business leaders and representatives of government institutions from China and Israel.