Addressing numerous critical questions, this practical guide is aimed at higher education leaders and their boards, the campus leaders charged with executing transformative mergers, and any policy makers interested in change management or the future of higher education.

How proactive mergers can stabilize and enhance colleges and universities—and ensure their future. With the pool of high school graduates decreasing, national and global competition increasing, and the need to invest in new technologies and approaches growing, many universities and small colleges alike are struggling—not just to thrive, but to survive. In this challenging environment, mergers and consolidations are often viewed as options of last resort. Strategic Mergers in Higher Education, however, argues that college and university mergers are a legitimate and proactive strategic option to help ensure success, maximize quality and service, and yield the best return for faculty and students. In this thoughtful book, Ricardo Azziz and his coauthors—including higher education leaders who have led successful consolidations—address the many questions surrounding institutional mergers. When, they ask—and why—should a merger be considered? How can leaders deal effectively with the many challenges and opposition that a merger will inevitably face? What are the predictors of merger failure and success? And how do we successfully address the postmerger cultural divide? This thorough text demonstrates how mergers can dramatically accelerate the goals of postsecondary institutions. The book is informed by an extensive review of published reports, interviews with over thirty higher education leaders, individual case studies, and the experiences of the authors themselves. Addressing numerous critical questions, this practical guide is aimed at higher education leaders and their boards, the campus leaders charged with executing transformative mergers, and any policy makers interested in change management or the future of higher education.

This volume casts light on mergers and alliances in higher education by examining developments of this type in different countries. It combines the direct experiences of those at the heart of such transformations, university leaders and senior officials responsible for higher education policy, with expert analysts of the systems concerned. Higher education in Europe faces a series of major challenges. The economic crisis has accelerated expectations of an increased role in addressing economic and societal challenges while at the same time putting pressure on available finances. Broader trends such as shifting student demographics and expectations, globalisation and mobility and new ways of working with business have contributed to these increased pressures. In the light of these trends there have been moves, both from national or regional agencies and from individual institutions to respond by combining resources, either through collaborative arrangements or more fundamentally through mergers between two or more universities. After an introductory chapter by the editors which establishes the context for mergers and alliances, the book falls into two main parts. Part 1 takes a national or regional perspective to give some sense of the historical context, the wider drivers and the importance of these developments in these cases. Included are both systemic accounts (for countries as France, Sweden, Romania, Russia, Wales and England), and specific cross-cutting in itiatives including a major facility at Magurele in Romania and a Spanish programme for promoting international campuses of excellence. Part 2 is built from specific cases of universities, either in mergers or alliances, with examples from different countries (such as France, UK, Romania, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Switzerland). A concluding chapter by the editors assesses these experiences and indicates the implications and future needs for understanding in this domain.

In the midst of falling enrollments and endowments, university leaders consider partnering, merging, and even closing institutions. Since the economic recession of 2008, colleges and universities have looked for ways to lower costs while increasing incomes. Not all have succeeded. Threatened closures and recent institutional mergers point to what might be a coming trend in higher education. The long-term economic weakness of colleges and universities means schools need to become more strategic about how they consider previously unthinkable options. This provocative book will be their indispensable guide to managing the crisis. In Consolidating Colleges and Merging Universities, James Martin and James E. Samels bring together higher education leaders to talk about something that few want to discuss: how institutions might cooperate with their competitors to survive in this economic climate. Barring that, Martin and Samels argue, some will shutter their campuses. But closing, they emphasize, is a complex process that involves more than just sending the students home and turning off the lights. The first one-volume resource for presidents, trustees, provosts, chief financial officers, and faculty leaders planning to partner, merge, or close a college or university, the book offers specific guidelines and action steps used successfully to create multiple forms of partnership between higher education institutions. The book includes contributions by twenty nationally recognized leaders in partnership and strategic planning, as well as an appendix detailing key college and university mergers and closures since 2000. Each chapter includes informative responses from practitioners who answer the question, “What is the single most important lesson you would share with a planning team designing a partnership or merger this year?” Responding to many daunting questions now being raised nationally about institutional fragility and sustainability, Consolidating Colleges and Merging Universities is an honest and practical guide to the possibilities and pitfalls of downsizing American higher education.

"Practical and theoretical advice on the academic, financial, administrative, legal, personnel, and student aspects of college mergers... An action plan for those involved in planning and implementing such mergers." -- Resources in Education

In a comparative study of two Canadian higher education mergers, Julia Eastman and Daniel Lang examine why and how universities merge and why some mergers succeed while others fail.