A UNESCO Chair of Media and Gender Studies, recently created at the Communications University of China, is the 18th Chair sponsored by UNESCO in China but the first one in this field.

Launched in 1992 and introduced to China in 1998, the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme aims to strengthen higher education in developing countries. Worldwide, it has created 550 Chairs in 116 countries, in each case providing USD 10,000 to cover the first three year’s tenure. In China, most of the Chairs have so far been created in the natural sciences.

The Communications University (formerly known as the Beijing Broadcasting Institute) was founded 50 years ago and is a premier training institution with cutting-edge digital TV and multimedia facilities. It submitted a proposal for the new Chair to the UNESCO Secretariat through China’s National Committee of UNESCO.

First holder of the new Chair is Professor Liu Liqun (刘利群), Director of the University’s Media and Gender Institute. During an inauguration ceremony on September 22 she pointed out that “How to promote women's media power and how to develop mainstream gender awareness are not only academic problems but also a responsibility that should weigh upon this Chair. The establishment of the UNESCO Chair has also provided us with an open academic and international platform.”

Professor Liu said she and her team plan to publish a series of books on the role of female media staff and ways to enable mass media to better serve the female population.

Report by Tina Qian [1], October 5, 2005