Arcadia and Salus plan to share classes

Arcadia University and Salus University said Friday that they have entered into a strategic alliance to share educational, clinical, and administrative resources.

Students at Arcadia would be able to study advanced health technologies offered by Salus, while Salus students, faculty, and alumni could take part in Arcadia's programs abroad, the two Montgomery County schools said in a news release.

The universities already share an optometry program. Students complete three years of pre-optometry science studies at Arcadia, in Glenside, followed by four years at Salus, based in Elkins Park.

The partnership may lead to cost savings but there are no plans for layoffs, said Arcadia spokesman Matthew Golden. The arrangement does not constitute any sort of merger or acquisition. No money is changing hands between the schools, and neither is changing its name, he said.

"Our respective presidents and provosts recognize there are numerous opportunities for collaboration because of both our universities' similarities - strength in health sciences and geographic proximity - and our unique attributes, including Arcadia's prominent global education focus," Golden said.

Arcadia was founded as Beaver College in 1853. It offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees, and has a current enrollment of 4,000.

Salus was founded as the Pennsylvania College of Optometry in 1919. It now also offers programs in audiology, public health, occupational therapy, speech-language therapy, and other disciplines. The current enrollment is 1,100 students in two-year and four-year graduate-level programs.

The announcement marks the second time in as many days that two Philadelphia-area institutions of higher education have made plans for a partnership. On Thursday, Thomas Jefferson University and Philadelphia University announced a preliminary agreement to merge.

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@TomAvril1