University of Wisconsin representatives led by Chancellor Biddy Martin will travel to China today in an effort to increase the visibility of UW and the state of Wisconsin as a whole.

In an e-mail to The Badger Herald, Martin said she is leaving today and will travel through Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Hangzhou before returning to Madison on April 5. Martin said her main reasons for going are to make UW more well-known, in addition to cultivating relationships with top Chinese universities, such as Jiao Tong University in Shanghai.

Martin said she also plans to meet with alumni and non-alumni business leaders in addition to potential undergraduates. According to a UW release, she will also meet with members of the Chinese media.

A highlight of the journey for Martin will be meeting with chancellors at Chinese universities in each city on her agenda and learning about the research they are conducting.

Martin said she believes all undergraduates at UW would benefit from studying with international students, especially as both groups are future leaders.

“Ultimately, university to university relations can play a part, even if a small part, in the development of positive relations between regions and nations,” she said.

John Ohnesorge, a UW law professor and director of the law school’s Center for East Asian Legal Studies, said promoting UW abroad is an innovative way for UW to further inform people of its world-class learning experience.

For Ohnesorge, UW suffers from its location in the Midwest because when international students think of top American universities, Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard and Yale immediately enter their minds.

“I think that’s a mistake on their part, but I think it’s a fact and … we should let them know about the good things that are happening here,” he said.

Twelve representatives of UW will make the journey, including members of the faculty, administration and Wisconsin Alumni Association.

As a frequent visitor to China, Ohnesorge said he sees himself in a support role for the trip, whereas other faculty members may be interested in working with Chinese universities.

“I hope that the chancellor going and having a higher-level exchange will help individual faculty members and students doing things that they want to do,” he said.

Ohnesorge said he particularly enjoys working with his colleagues in China, specifically at the university in Shanghai, where young Chinese judges are trained in American legal procedures. The judges then spend three weeks in Madison watching the process in action.

“I really just enjoy working with them, and I think engagement with China on these kinds of things is good,” he said.

Both Martin and Ohnesorge said they hoped to see more trips to other areas of the world in the future.

“I … am eager to visit India, Europe, Brazil and other locations of interest to our faculty, students and alumni,” Martin said.

Martin’s dog, Oscar, will stay with friends while she’s gone, she said, because the trip is too far for him.