Florida Governor Ron DeSantis visited Tel Aviv on Monday to sign eight Memoranda of Understandings between Tel Aviv University and several Florida institutions of higher learning.
The partnership will include cooperation in the fields of emergency management and disaster relief, neuroscience, blockchain technology and its applications, cybersecurity, information technology and entrepreneurship.
Representatives of Florida universities were present at the signing ceremony, as well as several TAU delegates, including TAU President Prof. Ariel Porat and vice presidents, Prof. Raanan Rein and Prof. Yoav Henis.
Porat said, “It’s a great pleasure to have the Governor of Florida, the third largest state in the US [by population], as a guest of Tel Aviv University. Gov. DeSantis has set the goal of building a world-class education system in his state, and it is precisely in this area that Tel Aviv University can enhance its presence in Florida and establish closer collaborations with various universities in Florida."
The institutions which will be part of the collaboration are Florida International University, Florida Atlantic University, UCF, Miami Dade College, Florida Institute of Technology, St. Leo University, Florida Gulf Coast University and Florida Gulf Coast University.
"I would also like to highlight Governor DeSantis’s strong position against any boycott against Israel in general and Israeli universities in particular," Porat added.
He subsequently presented DeSantis with a Friendship Award from Tel Aviv University, "in recognition of his continued friendship with the State of Israel and his efforts to forge deeper ties between Tel Aviv University and Florida institutions of higher education."
Governor DeSantis told the audience, "From business development to student exchanges and faculty collaboration, we are increasing the partnership between TAU, which has a very strong reputation globally, and the State of Florida. We are proud of our higher education system, which was ranked no.1 in the U.S., and there are a lot of different areas of shared interest with TAU."
"Water is something Israel and Florida both deal with; how to respond to emergency situations, natural disasters, we both deal with these issues," Gov DeSantis added. "The State of Florida is very pro-Israel...the people of Florida feel a strong bond with the State of Israel. Thank you for being willing to work on our common issues. We will look back on this in several years and say it all started back in 2019 at TAU.”
The Governor is currently leading a 90-member delegation on a four day trip to Israel, his first official visit abroad since taking office in January, to boost Florida’s economy.