^aCentre for Higher Education Management and Policy, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia. E-mails: gharman@une.edu.au, kharman@une.edu.au

Abstract

Strategic mergers are formal combinations or amalgamations of higher education institutions with the aim of enhancing competitive advantage, or merging for 'mutual growth'. Recently, in a number of countries, there has been a decided shift from mergers initiated by governments, and dealing mainly with 'problem' cases, towards institutional-initiated mergers involving strong institutions, and with clear strategic objectives. These issues are addressed and a case study is presented of the 2004 merger that created the new University of Manchester, which aims to be among the top 25 universities internationally by 2015.