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The Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel has an "open door" for students and researchers from Romania, the president of the institution, Prof. Alon Chen, told AGERPRES on Thursday evening, during a short visit to Bucharest to set up a special scholarship programme for young people with "excellent" results in the natural and exact sciences.
Focused on "curiosity-driven research", as neuroscience expert Alon Chen describes it, the Weizmann Institute of Science is "a research institute, not a university", covering the whole field of natural and exact sciences: biology, biomedicine, mathematics, computer science, chemistry, physics and others.
"Students just have to apply - that's why we have the Feinberg Graduate School - or they can approach our scientists through our website, depending on their field of interest. At the Weizmann, we don't have any tuition fees. All students and PostDocs receive scholarships," said the head of the institute.
"Our door is open to students and researchers from Romania. Scientists come to Weizmann from all over the world, we have an international campus, everything is held in English, 75 percent of post-docs are international, as are 30 percent of master's and PhD students. They include students from Romania. Unfortunately, their number is very small. And this is one of the reasons why I am here, to raise awareness about the Weizmann Institute," said Alon Chen.
During his short visit to our country, the president of the Weizmann Institute of Science paved the way for the establishment of a "special fund for Romania".
The steps to recruit Romanian students interested in training at the famous institute in Israel consist, first of all, in raising awareness of its activities.
"Then, we plan to bring students for short visits of a few weeks to the Weizmann, to get to know and understand what we do and what opportunities exist for them and to understand that the environment in Israel is safe," said the president of the institution.
After enrolling, the students will be evaluated by a committee of scientists from the Weizmann Institute, as well as from Romania.
"We want to encourage scholarships in Romania. We have just initiated it and are working on it. If we have support - and in this regard we have seen a very good response, an increased interest - I think we can set it up and running in half a year or a year," added Alon Chen on the special fund for Romania.
