Universities of Kent & Greenwich Merging to Form New “Super-University”

UK Education Sector

Universities of Kent & Greenwich Merging to Form New “Super-University”

The University of Kent and the University of Greenwich have announced they will partially merge to form a new entity called the London and South East University Group.

Aimed for autumn 2026, this move is intended to help with financial resilience in the face of rising costs, declining international student income, and frozen tuition fees.

The universities of Kent and Greenwich will merge in 2026 to form a “super university”, raising the prospect that other institutions in the UK’s cash-strapped higher education sector will follow suit.

The new joint institution, to be named the London and South East University Group, would deliver a “strong financial foundation to weather current and future economic challenges”, the providers said on Wednesday in a joint statement.

The move comes as dozens of UK universities cut back courses and jobs to ease long-term funding pressures, with many institutions exploring fresh partnership models in a bid to gain a more sustainable financial footing.

Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK, which represents the sector, said institutions were looking at options for “radical collaboration”.

“Right across the university system in the UK, leaders are thinking and working differently in response to sustained financial pressures,” she added.

Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union, said the move was a “takeover” and not a merger. “Kent is an institution under severe financial stress and Greenwich is seizing control,” she added.

Andy Westwood, former government adviser and policy director for the Productivity Institute, said other institutions were likely to be “seriously exploring” mergers, driven by universities such as Greenwich that are “in better financial health”.

The University of Kent opened a voluntary redundancy scheme for staff in January after announcing last year that it intended to “phase out” several programmes, including health and social care, journalism and philosophy.

The two universities said that some financial benefits were expected but were not the main motivation for the partnership, which builds on the Medway campus that the two universities already share.

There are no planned changes to courses but there would be “some restructuring and centralising of some services”, they added. The institution would have a single governing body and executive team.

In a joint statement, both providers said the partnership would create a “super university”, one of the largest higher education institutions in the UK and a “first-of-its-kind multi-university group” that would be a blueprint for others to follow.

Due diligence on the proposal is expected to conclude at the end of the year and, if approved, the group is anticipated to “be established for the 2026-27 academic year”.

Other recent university mergers include City, University of London combining with St George’s, and Anglia Ruskin University joining with Writtle University College last year.

Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, a think-tank, said this was a “very different sort of merger” as more recent examples involved specialist institutions joining larger universities.

The Department for Education said the Office for Students, England’s HE regulator, had “highlighted the need for some universities to change their business models to become more resilient, and we welcome innovative approaches such as this one”.

Although both institutions will preserve their separate degree-awarding names and admissions, they will share back-office services, reducing overheads.

The institutions want to rebrand as London and South East University group from autumn 2026

The universities of Kent and Greenwich are to merge in an attempt to improve their financial viability against a backdrop of economic turmoil across higher education in the UK.

Under the proposed name of London and South East University Group, the single institution will have one vice-chancellor from the academic year starting in autumn 2026. The two universities combined will have 28,000 first degree undergraduates, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

The universities said the combined institution would provide a stronger financial foundation to overcome the economic challenges facing universities now and in the future.

The Office for Students (OfS), England’s higher education regulator, welcomed the move and suggested that more universities might explore similar options as their income has fallen for the third year in a row.

This is due to falls in numbers of international students after immigration and visa changes as well as the declining real-terms value of the tuition fee paid by UK students, with the result that 40% of English universities are now believed to be in financial deficit.

The Department for Education (DfE) said ministers “welcome innovative approaches such as this one”.

The University and College Union (UCU) general secretary Jo Grady said staff and students at both universities would be “alarmed” by the announcement.

“If today’s announcement is indicative of how the government intends to deal with financial instability in the sector we should all be worried. It instead needs to present us with a clear and coherent strategy for how it will deal with the crisis in higher education,” she added.

The vice-chancellors of both universities told the BBC that the move was not a takeover by either institution, although they added that the new university model would be “resilient and financially viable”.

The new university will operate across the existing campuses, including in Medway, where students from both Greenwich and Kent already share the library and other facilities.

Kent has one other campus, in Canterbury, about 30 miles (48km) from Medway, while Greenwich has two other campuses, one on the banks of the River Thames in Greenwich – itself about 28 miles from Medway – and the other in Avery Hill, south-east London, about 24 miles away.

Many institutions have been trying to repair budget deficits by slashing building and maintenance spending as well as cutting courses and staff, with the sector expected to sell off more than £400m worth of land and property this year.

Prof Georgina Randsley de Moura will remain the interim leader of Kent until the merger, when Prof Jane Harrington, who runs Greenwich, will become the vice-chancellor of the new institution.

Randsley de Moura said the “trailblazing model” would enable the universities within the new group to retain their name, identity and campuses.

Students will be unaffected by the change, with applications continuing as normal to each institution and degrees awarded in the name of Kent or Greenwich.

Harrington said the universities had worked together on the Medway campus for 20 years and now wanted to contribute more to the economy across London and the south-east.

She added that students would “absolutely categorically” be able to complete any course they are already enrolled on, including those starting university this autumn.

The universities said there are no immediate plans for job losses. Harrington said that costs would be saved by reducing senior roles.

In May, Greenwich confirmed it was cutting the equivalent of 15 full-time posts by August. Kent has already started winding down some courses to reduce costs after posting a deficit for another year in 2024.

Across England, job losses at many institutions over the last couple of years have been mounting, with the University and College Union (UCU) estimating the overall number of posts cut at about 5,000.

Mergers were previously rare but have now become more common, with City St George’s created from two separate University of London universities last year, although most others have involved smaller or specialist institutions.

The OfS chair, Edward Peck, said: “The OfS’s financial sustainability analysis has starkly demonstrated the challenges facing the sector. More universities taking steps to ensure their long-term financial future will likely explore the possibility of working more closely with partners, up to and including mergers. While the OfS will consider any regulatory decisions in this case carefully and on their merits, these initial proposals are to be welcomed.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “This collaboration shows how strong partnerships in higher education can help enable delivery of world-class teaching and research while maintaining the best interests of students.

“Through our plan for change we are committed to fixing the foundations of higher education, and we will soon publish our plans for HE reform as part of the post-16 education and skills strategy white paper.”