INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana University and Purdue University officials announced plans Friday to split up control of the Indianapolis campus that the schools have shared for more than 50 years, a move they said will lead both schools to expand their presence in the city.
The academic division of the 27,000-student campus now known as Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, or IUPUI, is set to take effect in 2024, with the new IU Indianapolis continuing to operate much of the campus and programs in areas including business, science, law, nursing and liberal arts.
Purdue said it will control engineering, computer science and technology programs, with an aim to increase their enrollments in coordination with the main Purdue campus in West Lafayette.
Leaders from both schools said the changes will allow IU and Purdue to highlight and grow their academic programs and research presence in the state’s largest city.
Purdue Board of Trustees Chairman Michael Berghoff said the new structure will give both universities more incentive to invest in Indianapolis programs and could help recruit businesses to the city with higher profiles for each school.
“Somebody who’s driving them around is going to show them where Purdue University is located in Indianapolis and where Indiana University is located in Indianapolis versus IUPUI,” Berghoff said during a news conference.
The universities had a similar shared campus in Fort Wayne that split up in 2018. Purdue Fort Wayne now provides most of its academic degrees, with IU largely overseeing health sciences programs.
IU President Pamela Whitten said her goals included bolstering the business school and computer science programs at the Indianapolis campus.
“The new framework calls for a more energized role in Indianapolis for both universities with an even greater number of graduates who are ready to participate in our modern economy,” Whitten said.
Purdue President Mitch Daniels, the former Indiana governor who is stepping down at year’s end after a decade leading the school, said he long supported major changes for IUPUI’s structure but that serious discussions didn’t start until Whitten became IU’s president last year.
Daniels said what he called “the new Purdue in Indianapolis” would not be a regional campus but fully integrated with the West Lafayette campus. Daniels said he believe it was important for Purdue to have a bigger and more visible presence in the city.
“We have really not been living up to our responsibility if we are not providing to Indianapolis, that high tech, that engineering, computer science and related applied disciplines,” Daniels said.
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