Mergers or amalgamations refer to the processes by which two or more existing higher education institutions (HEIs) devise a set of common structures, strategies, and procedures in order to establish a new organizational entity. In most cases, this involves the consolidation of current tasks and activities because maintaining continuity with respect to teaching and research tasks is important to higher education (HE) culture. However, certain circumstances may require dramatic structural changes, which can lead to the formation of an entirely new entity with its own unique shape and form. As a phenomenon, mergers are important mechanisms of structural change and adaptation that have a significant impact on how HE systems serve their primary functions.

The first HEI mergers occurred in North American institutions in the 1930s. ...