Lin Jingting was happy to meet members of a recent media delegation from Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan province, when they visited the University of Haifa in Israel where she is a master's degree candidate.

Lin, 23, comes from Yibin in Sichuan. Before enrolling at the Israeli university as an exchange student in 2014, she was an undergraduate at Chengdu University for three years.

Lin, the first exchange student from Chengdu University, said each month now brings visitors from Chengdu to her Israeli university.

Her experience showcases the increasing exchanges between Chengdu and Haifa after they established sister city ties in 2013.

Haifa, the largest port city and the most important industrial city in Israel, is also its center of scientific research and higher education.

Showing documents recording exchanges between the cities in the city hall of Haifa, Hedva Almog, deputy mayor of Haifa Municipality, told the visiting Chengdu delegation her city has closely cooperated with Chengdu in culture, economy and education since 2013.