You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.
Two private institutions in Philadelphia are considering an agreement that would lead to St. Joseph’s University acquiring the University of the Sciences.
The universities have signed a nonbinding letter of intent, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported yesterday. Such a move is standard early on in merger and acquisition processes between two universities. Leaders plan to evaluate the potential deal into the summer and close on it a year later if they opt to move forward.
St. Joseph’s enrolled about 7,400 undergraduate and graduate students in the fall of 2019. The University of the Sciences enrolled about 2,300.
Leaders at the universities told the Inquirer that they want to keep both institutions’ campuses, which are about five miles away from each other. Increased scale of operations would be one benefit of the proposed deal, as both institutions have taken steps to strengthen their financial positions in the last decade.
The University of the Sciences was known as the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Sciences before changing its name in 1998, shortly after receiving Pennsylvania approval for university status. Dating back to 1821, it counts itself as the first college of pharmacy in North America.
