Dive Brief:

• Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts will transfer its school, along with 700 students and approximately 145 faculty, to Tufts University this coming summer.
• The Boston Globe reports the transfer comes after lengthy quiet negotiations that will leave the MFA as the owner of the school’s buildings but send operational responsibility to Tufts.
• The currently unaccredited fine arts school is expected to attract more students once it becomes a part of Tufts, an accredited university it has partnered with for dual degree programs and other initiatives for 70 years.

Dive Insight:

The School of the Museum of Fine Arts has been on rocky ground financially, losing enrollment and struggling with a plan to change that. Leaders of both institutions expect the new arrangement to benefit all those who turn to the school as well as students at Tufts.

Philadelphia University just announced a merger with Thomas Jefferson University last week. Such arrangements are expected to become more common in coming years as the higher education sector deals with financial strain. Moody’s predicts the number of mergers will double. While it sees the industry as “stable,” it continues to warn of financial trouble among regional public universities and small private colleges.