Syracuse University’s upcoming academic partnership with Le Moyne College is an opportunity for both institutions to benefit from the other’s respective strengths, and also for SU to increase its involvement outside the University Hill community.

SU recently announced a partnership between its School of Information Studies and Le Moyne’s Madden School of Business, in addition to an extension of its relationship with Le Moyne and SU’s College of Law. Although the schools have been in collaboration for some years, it’s clear both institutions are making efforts to strengthen their relationship in ways that will be beneficial for students from both schools. The newest element of the partnership could be unveiled in fall 2017.

It’s essential for universities to recognize where partnerships with other institutions can fill the gaps in their own curriculum and allow students avenues to a stronger education. And by putting their figurative heads together, SU and Le Moyne as well-respected institutions have expanded opportunities for their students to take courses that weren’t available prior to the partnership.

This is effectively the basis for the partnership, which will permit students to take courses at the other school and allow master’s students in certain programs to obtain Certificates of Advanced Study in subject areas that are offered at one school but not the other. SU offers these certificates in information and security management and data science, while Le Moyne offers them in enterprise systems and health information systems, which are programs not currently available at SU.

The partnership also has the capacity to support diversity of perspective in the classroom. This is because the partnership will allow Le Moyne students who may have been interested in attending SU but were unable to due to SU’s higher respective tuition to experience elements of the university’s curriculum. Le Moyne’s tuition for the 2017-18 academic year is $32,840, whereas SU’s is $45,150, according to the schools’ financial aid websites.

Moving ahead to fruition, this partnership demonstrates SU acting on a highly-discussed idea for the university to branch out of the University Hill community and further extend its reach into the city of Syracuse. By solidifying this new partnership with Le Moyne in this way, SU has developed more rounded academic opportunities for its own students while better servicing the greater Syracuse community. That’s academic engagement in action.