Gov. Christie signs state higher education restructuring bill
With the stroke of his pen, Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill today that will change higher education in New Jersey.
At the Rutgers Student Center on the College Avenue campus, Christie approved a major restructuring of the state’s higher education institutions, a move that will expand the University’s presence in New Jersey.
“I look at what Rutgers will be now … with all these things [to] make it a top-flight university,” he said during the press conference.
The bill — which must still be approved by the University’s Board of Governors and Board of Trustees before it can go into effect — will distribute parts of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey to different University campuses and Rowan University.
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, The Cancer Institute of New Jersey and The UMDNJ School of Public Health will all join the University’s New Brunswick campus, an integration students will see take effect July 1, 2013.
While the University’s boards will give final approval in the coming weeks, Board of Governors Chair Ralph Izzo said the bill shows the state’s legislature worked effectively with Gov. Christie.
“The integration of an academic medical center into Rutgers adds tremendous value to the entire university and the state,” he said in a statement. “We will be well-positioned to dramatically improve our ability to win federal grants, attract top-flight faculty and students, expand health care options for residents and foster economic growth.”
