University of Iowa forming working groups to resolve AIB merger issues

The University of Iowa on Thursday announced it's forming 10 working groups to address 'key issues' involved in a merger with AIB College of Business that would allow the university to open a second campus in Des Moines.

The groups will address issues of student registration, financial aid, housing, and academic programming.

UI President Sally Mason and AIB President Nancy Williams on Monday announced a partnership that would allow UI to take ownership of the business college's 20 acres in Des Moines and open a second UI campus.

The partnership requires Board of Regents approval, and Mason in a news release Thursday said the university plans to work with regents to determine an academic approach for the new campus.

'The university intends to work closely with the Iowa Board of Regents and Des Moines business community to determine which academic programs will best serve the metropolitan area,' Mason said in a statement.

The goal, she said, is to complete the transition by June 2016, and the programs offered in Des Moines will depend on recommendations made during the academic portion of an ongoing efficiency review of Iowa's three public universities. That portion of the review is scheduled to begin in March.

AIB was founded in 1921 to offer business training programs but later was reorganized to provide associate and bachelor degrees. A majority of its 1,000-some students are from Iowa, which could help UI under a new regents funding formula that ties a majority of state appropriations to resident enrollment.

'We are committed to making this a smooth transition for students, and we will support them at every step along the way,' UI Provost P. Barry Butler said in a statement.