Foundations for the Guangdong Technion Israel Institute of Technology, funded by Hong Kong business magnate Li Ka-shing, are scheduled to be laid down in November of this year, the Guangdong-based magazine The Time Weekly reported on Tuesday.
The establishment of the GTIIT is a result of a cooperative agreement signed on September 29, 2013 between the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) and Shantou University, according to the official website of Technion.
The cooperative agreement received an investment of 900 million yuan (US$142.1 million) from the Guangdong Provincial Government and the Shantou Municipal Government, and a donation of US$130 million from Hong Kong-based charitable organization -- The Li Ka Shing Foundation.
The GTIIS vision is to become a world-class international technological university campus carrying out cutting-edge research that will encourage entrepreneurship and technology transference, and foster a high-tech industrial ecosystem in the city of Shantou and Guangdong Province, according to the Technion website.
The website also said that GTIIT will also usher in a new era of education, research and innovation in engineering, and life sciences in the province of Guangdong. Teaching and research at GTIIT will be carried out in the English language. The new institute will eventually grant Technion engineering degrees at all levels -- Bachelor, Masters and PhD.
Bao Ying, the engineering architect for GTIIT, explained the layout of the institute, saying that the north part of the campus will be built into the dormitory area, with the central location built as the exchange area and the southern locations built as the teaching and experiment areas. "We will give a full consideration of various factors into our designs, including local climate, environment and culture," Bao said.
Debates on Li's withdrawal of investment
Li Ka-shing is currently the second wealthiest Chinese person in the world, with a fortune of US$32.8 billion, according to statistics released by the Hurun Research Institute in August. In addition to GTIIT, The Li Ka-shing Foundation also helped establish Shantou University in the early 1980s and the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in November of 2002.
However, in the past two years, Li has been in a vortex of public opinion regarding rumors that he plans to transfer his business operations and assets from the Chinese mainland to overseas after gaining huge profits. He has even been denounced as "unpatriotic" and a man "who can share only comforts but not hardships."
In September, Li's Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Limited announced the plan to merge with Power Assets Holdings -- Li's only existing registered company in the Chinese mainland -- through a deal worth US$11.6 billion. This move pushed the whole event to a climax. Even the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese government, commented on it on Sept. 20 in one of the newspaper's social-media posts, questioning "Is it a normal commercial operation or a decline of morality? Is it a legitimate maneuver, or a helpless evacuation?"
On Sept. 29, for the first time Li officially replied to his "withdrawal of investment", issuing a three-page statement explaining that the reason his companies chose this method was to benefit from greater flexibility.
In his statement, Li mentioned particularly the establishment of the GTIIT, saying that the institute is aimed at promoting China's university education reform and innovative industry development, and preparing for leading the future.
Li Ka-shing and his charitable foundation
Speaking of the GTIIT, Chen Maohui, secretary of the CPC Shantou Municipal Committee, highly praised the establishment of the institute, saying the cooperation between Guangdong Province and Israel should be furthered, especially in the field of sewage treatment and medical industries.
GTIIT is one of the dozens of projects fostered by The Li Ka-shing Foundation. According to the Hurun 2015 Global Chinese Philanthropy List released by the Hurun Research Institute, the foundation, established in 1980 and funded by Li, has donated a total of HK$15 billion, or roughly US$1.94 billion, over the past 35 years, with 87 percent being used in the Chinese territory and mostly in the inland areas.
Specifically,regarding the Li Ka-shing Foundation's charitable donations, 45 percent have gone to education, 38 percent to healthcare, 11 percent to culture and religion, and the remaining 6 percent to public welfare. The funded projects include the establishment of the Shantou University and the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business.
Li once publicly said that the share of the foundation would account not less than one third of his total property, and all the money will be used in the charitable cause. "Nobody can get a dime from the charitable cause, neither my family members nor directors of the board," he said. Li also claimed that he will serve, heart and soul, for the foundation, even if one day he might become "slow-witted."
In June of this year, Li Ka-shing delivered a speech at the graduation ceremony of Shantou University, his 14th such speech at the school, explaining his educational ideas and encouraging the graduates to study hard.
