The UK’s first “super-university”, stretching across an entire region, is to be created through the merger of the universities of Kent and Greenwich, the BBC has learned.
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 Office for Students (OfS), England’s higher education regulator, welcomed the move and suggested more universities may explore similar options as they battle economic challenges, with 40% of English universities now believed to be in financial deficit.
The Department for Education (DfE) said ministers “welcome innovative approaches such as this one”.
The new university will operate across the existing campuses, including in Medway, where students from both Greenwich and Kent already share facilities, including the library.
Kent has one other campus, in Canterbury, about 30 miles (48km) from Medway.
Greenwich has two other campuses, one on the banks of the River Thames in Greenwich itself about 28 miles (45km) from Medway, and the other in Avery Hill, south-east London, about 24 miles (38km) from Medway.
The universities said the combined institution will provide a strong financial foundation to weather the economic challenges facing universities now and in the future.
Speaking exclusively to the BBC, the vice-chancellors of both universities insisted the move was not a takeover, nor driven by a financial crisis for either, although they argued the new university model would be “resilient and financially viable”.
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.
Prof Randsley de Moura said the “trailblazing model” would enable the universities within the new group to retain their name, identity and campuses.
Prof Harrington said the universities had worked together on the Medway campus for 20 years and now wanted to go further to contribute to the economy across London and the South East.
“This is about taking the best of both universities and saying what do we want to offer to our communities,” she said.
