The West China Union University, located in Chengtu, Szechuan Province, China, was the product of the collective efforts of four Protestant, denominational missionary boards and eventually became a division of the West China Educational Union, which was created in 1906. One of the founding members of the University was Dr. John F. Goucher, Dickinson College class of 1868 and namesake of Goucher College. The university became the focal point of the Carlisle, Pennsylvania college's Dickinson-in-China program.

Once established, the University had a difficult task in trying to convert the people of the Szechuan province, as it was the only institution with a christianizing purpose in the region; the faculty and administration were attempting to convert the beliefs of a population in excess of 100 to 150 million people.  Due to the rise of anti-christian and anti-western sentiment in China at the time, the West China Union University was closed in 1926, and the Educational Union itself closed three years later.