Four eastern universities team up to share resources and ideas

By James Bradshaw. Four small eastern schools have decided they must co-operate to keep their identities strong after more than 150 years of competing for the mantle of Canada’s elite undergraduate student experience. Acadia University and St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, and Bishop’s University in eastern Quebec have banded together as the U4 League, a superhero-esque moniker for a new structure to get the four schools sharing ideas – and, increasingly, students and professors.
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With public funding under strain and concerns about the quality of undergraduate education getting louder across Canada, the partnership is meant to get the most out of each school’s strengths. The schools’ leaders aim to make it easier for students to tap the expertise of each university from their home campus, encourage faculty to work together across campuses, share ideas and find back-office savings – all without growing enrolments or eroding the intimate campus experience that is their hallmark. But while the leaders of all four schools trumpeted the possibilities of deeper links, they stressed that the move is not a precursor to any sort of future merger, nor is it a natural step for four universities that have seen each others as rivals for generations. Read more...