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A proposed merger of the state's primary undergraduate and graduate universities might bring more research dollars and jobs to Maryland, but students, especially undergraduates, might not see significant changes, the University System of Maryland chancellor said this week.

The linking of the University of Maryland, College Park, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, proposed by Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. on Monday, could mean more jobs for scientists and other researchers if the institution's combined research budgets of $718 million are brought under one umbrella, Chancellor William E. "Brit" Kirwan said.

But with many study programs, including the MBA, law and public policy studies, already available for graduate students between the two schools, the merger really would be about creating a stronger research institution and gaining more outside recognition, Kirwan said.

"If you have more research, you're hiring more people, you're developing more intellectual property which can be commercialized," he said.

At the same time, the chancellor denied the proposed merger would be driven by a desire to compete for research dollars with Johns Hopkins University, the state's educational research behemoth based on expenditures.

Sen. Jim Rosapepe (D-Dist. 21) of College Park said there have been no discussions about physically combining the campuses.

"There are a lot of joint appointments of faculty, joint research projects, but there could be a lot more," he said. "The notion of having them more integrated, I think, has a lot of appeal to people."

There is no cost estimate yet on any merger, Kirwan said.

Under Miller's proposal, the University System of Maryland would be required by Dec. 15 to draw up plans that would merge the two schools, which currently have a combined enrollment of about 44,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

Adopted by the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee's Education, Business and Administration Subcommittee, Miller's proposal would unite the two schools' different strengths while hopefully increasing funding for the new institution, he said.

"Our competition has these flagships tied in with professional schools," said Miller (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach, citing public university systems in Illinois, Wisconsin and North Carolina.

If the two schools combined, the new institution would rank 10th in the nation in overall research expenditures and eighth among public universities, according to the Center for Measuring University Performance's 2009 report on research expenditures at U.S. universities.

Separately, College Park ranks 44th in research expenditures, and Baltimore ranks 45th in research expenditures.

Combined, the two schools also would produce the third-highest number of faculty awards and the fifth-highest number of doctorates.

In the Center for Measuring University Performance's 2009 report, Johns Hopkins had more than $1.55 billion in total research expenditures in 2007, the highest of any university in the country, with more than $1.3 billion consisting of federal research.

Hopkins is hoping to develop a town center and 170,000 square feet of new research and education space on its Montgomery County campus in Rockville as part of the Great Seneca Science Corridor development project. The school also has been approved for 1.4 million square feet of new agricultural, academic, medical care or research space at Belward Farm in the corridor.

Both UM, Baltimore, and UM, College Park, offer undergraduate and graduate programs at the Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville, where nine university system institutions offer courses.

"I think the research universities in the system compete very well with Johns Hopkins," Kirwan said.

Miller cited the possibility that students could take law school classes at the College Park campus as a benefit of the merger, which he had discussed with College Park President Wallace Loh. The two schools currently have few duplicative programs, he noted.

College Park, the university system's flagship institution, has 37,600 students, with 26,900 of them undergraduates. UM-Baltimore caters primarily to its 5,700 graduate students out of 6,400 total students, awarding 61 percent of all the first professional degrees in Maryland. It has professional schools in law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing and social work.

The new university would remain in the University System of Maryland, Miller said, but would help the state progress from the system model created under former Gov. William Donald Schaefer.

"Anytime you have a change, you'll have bureaucrats trying to defend the status quo," he said.

But Kirwan expressed concern about the physical separation and different attitudes between the two schools.

Referring to UM, Baltimore, Kirwan said, "It has an academic culture that is somewhat different than what you have on a campus with a large undergraduate population."

The General Assembly could give final approval to a merger as soon as 2012.

In an email to UM, Baltimore, faculty Monday evening, President Jay Perman noted he had encouraged more collaboration during the course of time between the school and College Park, but also stressed the importance of each campus' unique strengths.

In a statement, UM, College Park President Wallace Loh said, "To win great opportunities in the fast-changing world of 21st century higher education, we must work even more closely to bridge the boundaries of academic and professional disciplines, USM institutions, and geography."

Kirwan noted that as far back as 1998, in a farewell speech before leaving his job as president of the College Park school, he had expressed support for more collaboration between the two universities, although not specifically a merger.

Staff Writer Elizabeth Skalski

contributed to this report.

aujifusa@gazette.net