Consolidating Colleges and Merging Universities: New Strategies for Higher Education Leaders

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.

Table of Contents:
Preface -- James Martin and James E. Samels Part I. The New Necessities to Partner Chapter 1. The Consolidation of American Higher EducationJames Martin and James E. Samels Chapter 2. Reader's Guide: The New Typology of Collaboration and ClosureJames E. Samels and James Martin Part II. Strategic Alliance: A Model That Rarely Fails, and Why Chapter 3. When Does Large Become Too Large? -- A View of Higher Education Partnerships and the Implications of Institutional SizeR. Michael Tanner Chapter 4. "Systemness": A New Way to Lead and Manage Higher Education SystemsNancy L. Zimpher Chapter 5. Presidential Vision and Partnership Development: An Evolving ViewPamela Eibeck Chapter 6. "We Never Thought This Way Ten Years Ago": How Partnerships Are Reshaping Academic Leadership ExpectationsVita Rabinowitz and James Stellar Chapter 7. Why, and How, Elite Colleges and Universities are Joining ForcesJ. Matthew Hartley and Alan Ruby Chapter 8. The Community College Option: How Co-ventures Can Leverage Student and Academic ResourcesKenneth Ender and Charles Middleton Chapter 9. Technology as a Driver of Strategic AlliancesPhilip Regier and Lynsi Freitag Chapter 10. A Disruptive Opportunity: Competency-based Education as a Shaper of Successful PartnershipsPaul LeBlanc and Kristine Clerkin Chapter 11. International Objectives: The Benefits and Challenges in Developing Branch Campuses and Partnerships AbroadMichael Jackson and James Larimore Chapter 12. Public-Private Partnerships: Models That WorkJohn Ottenhoff Part III. Consortium: New Benefits, Changing Purposes Chapter 13. A New Way to Design and Deliver Higher Education ConsortiaPhillip DiChiara Chapter 14. Where Partnerships Began: A Fresh Look at the Purpose and Outcomes of Liberal Arts College ConsortiaR. Owen Williams Part IV. Merger: The Right Reasons to Consider One Chapter 15. Why Mergers are (Quietly) Increasing Among Colleges and Universities: A Review of the Pros and ConsSusan Resneck Pierce Part V. Closure: Hidden Costs and Complexities Chapter 16. If That Moment Arrives: The Blueprint to Close a CollegeMichael Hoyle Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C BibliographyIndex