The Department of Gender Studies meets the growing demand for expertise in gender issues by providing both Master's and doctoral level programs in gender studies, as well as serving as a base for non-degree studies and other activities in the field. The department attracts students from a wide range of disciplines in the social sciences and the humanities, and focuses on integrative and comparative approaches in gender studies. A rich variety of intertwined scholarly interests (such as gender and (post) state-socialist studies, nationalism, theory, cultural studies, transnationalism, and international political movements) are emphasized. With an important, but not exclusive, focus on Central and Eastern Europe, both the Master's and doctoral programs seek to contribute to the development of socially relevant knowledge based on these approaches, and to critically interrogate past and present developments related to gender in culture and society.