As the interest in global educational exchange increases in the United States and throughout the world, universities in diverse global locations are seeking to identify areas of common interest and to develop strategies for collaboration and mutual support. One area achieving heightened international awareness is the area of women's and gender studies. Many nations are working to expand and enhance educational experiences for women. In this context, it has become clear that the field of women's and gender studies provides an environment of empowerment, a creative and scholarly literature of great complexity and reach, and methods for successful development of leadership and scholarship.
The current historical moment is one of great opportunity for transnational exchange and collaboration in the area of Women's Studies. Given its long history of excellence in the area, the University of Michigan (UM) has much to offer in such transnational collaborations in the way of experience, reputation, and resources. UM not only has an Institute for Research on Women and Gender, which brings together scholars from across the university; it also has a Women's Studies Program with almost thirty years of scholarship and experience in educating women. Chinese universities as well have a significant role to play in transnational collaborations. Chinese universities are now committed to developing programs to prepare women faculty to teach in the emerging area of women's studies.
At this juncture we are initiating a collaborative project of scholarly exchange and collaboration between the United States and China. Joining together scholars from the UM, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the Chinese Women College, this project takes as its focus graduate education in China in women's and gender studies. Faculty from the University of Michigan will prepare graduate courses in Women's Studies to be co-taught at the Chinese Women University with faculty from universities in China. UM faculty in the Women's Studies Program and Institute for Research on Women and Gender will thus cooperate in training graduate students to engage in graduate teaching. Simultaneously, they will engage UM graduate students in an intellectual exchange experience.
The project has as its focus three main goals: