DEARBORN — Eastern Michigan University is establishing a new University Center on the main campus of Henry Ford College in Dearborn. The partnership became official when Stan Jensen, Henry Ford College’s president, and Kim Schatzel, interim president, provost and executive vice president of Eastern Michigan, signed the agreement on Wednesday, July 29 at the HFC Welcome  Center.  

Officials said the purpose of new University Center is to build a better academic quality and support services for students, like academic advising. EMU is one of three universities to enter into such partnership, along with Siena Heights University and Madonna University. According to Jensen, three more partnerships are coming soon.

“Eastern [Michigan University] has been a long term partner of ours and a lot of our students have chosen on their own to transfer there already,” Jensen said. 

He added that EMU is one of three top universities to which students transfer the most. For that reason, Jensen said the partnership will ease the transfer of credits to and from the two universities.

Complementing the more seamless credit transfers, HFC will offer EMU undergraduate and graduate classes in the Health Administration, Elementary Education and Social Work programs.

“Each of the universities in our University Center will have different specialties that they emphasize and provide as a pathway for our students to continue to get a bachelor’s degree,” Jensen said.

He added that HFC is pursuing its own bachelor’s degree, starting with culinary arts.

In the fall of 2014, there were a total of 809 HFC students enrolled at EMU. In the 2013-2014 academic year, 297 HFC students received bachelor degrees from EMU.

EMU already has 10 program articulation agreements with HFC, along with a reverse transfer agreement. Jensen said the new affiliation is a natural continuation and enhancement of that particular partnership.

Schatzel said 50 percent of EMU’s graduate students are transfer students and added that she hopes the university’s partnership will provide a path for students to obtain their degrees and move to the careers that they’re aiming for.

“There’s great alignment between the types of career programs and the types of interests that the students have here with Eastern’s,” Schatzel said. “It’s great for southeastern Michigan, in terms of the fact that the more college graduates we have[…]the better for the economy, the better for everybody in terms of their ability to prosper and fulfill their aspirations.”