St. Joseph’s University and University of the Sciences, two Philadelphia institutions, say they are considering a merger to help both schools grow in an increasingly challenging higher education market.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that under the proposal the 200-year-old University of the Sciences, formerly Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, would become part of the larger St. Joseph’s, a 170-year-old Jesuit institution.
St. Joseph’s would retain its name over the combined entity.
Mark C. Reed, president of St. Joseph’s, and Paul Katz, president of USciences, said they have signed a nonbinding letter of intent to evaluate the effect of a merger.
The presidents expect to conclude their evaluation this summer and then, complete the merger in another year if the plan is approved.
The presidents said they envision keeping both campuses, which are less than five miles apart.
Their faculty, budgets and administrations would be combined, but both presidents said it’s too early to say whether that will result in job elimination.
Combined, the institutions would have more than 9,000 undergraduate and graduate students and have an endowment in excess of a half-billion dollars, an operating budget over $300 million and nearly 95,000 living alumni.
