An analysis of the State System Redesign by an international higher education publication is skeptical of the plan to save the fourteen-school system, going so far as to predict that the mergers of six universities into two is a precursor to closing the weaker campuses.
The Redesign will create two new entities. Bloomsburg, Mansfield, and Lock Haven will become the Northeast Integrated University – a name that may change – while Edinboro, Clarion, and California will be called the Western Integrated University.
Several analysts in the article published by London-based University World News question whether the Redesign is about education or simply cutting spending. It cites a paper written for the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, which questions whether the projected savings from the consolidations and predicts cuts of more than 800 faculty jobs by 2023. It also projects job losses in the communities hosting the consolidated schools.
The article was posted last Saturday on the University World News website: universityworldnews.com
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