Indiana, Purdue universities plan Indianapolis campus split

This report was updated with information from WFYI Indiana Public Broadcasting partner WFIU/TIU, in Blooomington. 

Indiana University and Purdue University officials announced plans Friday to split up control of the Indianapolis campus, known as Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, or IUPUI. The schools have shared the campus for more than 50 years.

IUPUI is owned and operated by IU, with certain programs that grant Purdue degrees. Moving forward, both universities will govern their own programs and still collaborate to form a new bioscience engineering institute. IU Trustee Chair Quinn Buckner said the two universities are still a team.

“This is what a team looks like when you look at what IU and Purdue pulled together. Understanding that the greater good for all of us is when we work together,” Buckner said.

The academic division is set to take effect in 2024, with IU continuing to operate much of the 27,000-student campus and programs in areas including business, science, law, nursing and liberal arts.

Purdue said it will control engineering, computer science and technology programs, with an aim to increase their enrollments and coordinate them more with the main Purdue campus in West Lafayette.

New names will be chosen for the campuses.

University officials said the changes will allow IU and Purdue to highlight and grow their academic programs and research presence in the state’s largest city.

The universities had a similar shared campus in Fort Wayne that split up in 2018. Purdue Fort Wayne now provides most of its academic degrees, with IU largely overseeing health sciences programs.