<p>President Ruth J. Simmons and Chancellor Yingxing Hong of Nanjing University signed a general agreement to promote undergraduate, graduate and faculty exchanges. The agreement is the culmination of several years of building ties between the two universities, including a previous short-term faculty exchange and a research partnership.</p>

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — President Ruth J. Simmons and Chancellor Yingxing Hong of Nanjing University signed a general agreement Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011, to strengthen future collaborations, specifically the promotion of undergraduate, graduate and faculty exchanges.

Brown and Nanjing currently have two exchange agreements in place: Brown Global Forums, which is a short-term faculty exchange, and the Nanjing-Brown Joint Program in Gender Studies, which is a research partnership among the Pembroke Center, the Department of East Asian Studies, and the Cogut Center at Brown with the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Science at Nanjing. The purpose of the Nanjing-Brown Joint Program is to bring scholars from Nanjing into dialogue with scholars at Brown about the global future of gender, feminist studies, and the humanities.

During his visit to Brown, Chancellor Hong and his delegation are meeting with University officers in the Graduate School, research, and international affairs to discuss next steps for the agreement. He is also delivering a lecture, co-hosted by the Watson Institute, the Year of China, the Rhodes Center, and the Department of Economics. The delegation is touring the campus, the Cogut and Pembroke Centers, and the Warren Alpert Medical School and meeting with Nanjing alumni at Brown and in the New England area.