Dive Brief:
- A merger of Georgia State University — a four-year research school — and Georgia Perimeter College — a two-year school — is in the works.
- The merger will be the sixth in two years for Georgia’s public colleges and universities.
- The merged school would become the largest public higher education institution in Georgia, with nearly 54,000 students, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Dive Insight:
The merger recommendation of Hank Huckaby, the University System of Georgia’s chancellor, was planned to be delivered to the system’s Board of Regents at the board’s meeting today. Huckaby started recommending mergers soon after he took the chancellorship in 2011, as a response to state funding declines. Last year, the regents merged eight schools into four, shrinking Georgia’s public colleges to 31. This month, accreditors approved the fifth merger, of Kennesaw State University and Southern Polytechnic State University. At the same time as the mergers move is taking place, Georgia State is moving ahead with redevelopment plans in downtown Atlanta that include a 30,000-seat stadium.