Mergers in Higher Education: Lessons from Theory and Experience

Around the world, organizations of all kinds are merging at a frenetic pace. In a comparative study of two Canadian higher education mergers - that of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education with the University of Toronto in 1996, and that of the Technical University of Nova Scotia with Dalhousie University in 1997 - Julia Eastman and Daniel Lang examine why and how universities merge and why some mergers succeed while others fail.

Drawing on extensive interviews with university members, public officials, and experts in organizational restructuring, and on their professional involvement in the two mergers, the authors elucidate what prompts higher education mergers, what is involved in the process and what determines the outcomes. They link practice with organizational theory and offer observations about the roles of history, economics, power and human relations in post-secondary educational systems. Suitable for university and college officials, educators, social scientists, and public policy-makers, the style and approach of Mergers in Higher Education make it an indispensable resource for all those involved in planning and negotiating university and other public sector mergers, both in Canada and abroad.

Julia Eastman is Coordinator of Policy Development in the Office of the President at Dalhousie University in Halifax. Daniel W. Lang is a professor in the Department of Theory and Policy Studies at OISE/UT.