The universities of Kent and Greenwich have merged to form the UK’s first “super-university” amid sector-wide financial pressures.
The new London and South East University Group (LASE) becomes the UK’s third largest, with more than 50,000 students across four campuses in south-east London and Kent.
Leaders say the institutions are “much stronger” together as higher education providers face mounting economic strain, but the University and College Union previously raised concerns that the merger signalled a “broader problem for the sector”.
The two universities, which legally merged last month, will still operate as distinct academic divisions within the group, retaining their current names.
Students will still apply to the institution they choose and degrees will be awarded in the name of Kent or Greenwich.
But the group will now be able to offer subjects that they could not before when they were separate entities, and students will be able to use libraries and access wellbeing services across the campuses in Greenwich, Medway and Canterbury.
Chief executive Prof Jane Harrington said the merger had made the universities financially stronger.
She said the combined group would also be better placed to help tackle regional youth unemployment.
“If I was to look through south-east London going out we’ve got areas of urban deprivation, then you go out into Medway and Kent you’ve got areas of rural deprivation and then we’ve got areas of coastal deprivation,” she said.
“It’s a real opportunity for us to address the very people that the government’s worried about.”