Students walk by Century Tower on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville. | Sam Thomas, Fresh Take Florida
Published on March 28, 2024 at 3:36 pm
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An effort to bring a University of Florida graduate campus to Downtown Jacksonville took a step forward Wednesday when the Florida Board of Governors approved the university’s plans to get things started.
The idea to bring a UF graduate campus has been in the works since February 2023, when the university and the city of Jacksonville announced they were exploring options for the idea.
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The plans approved Wednesday include UF’s opening a temporary campus in the new JEA headquarters on Pearl and Adams Streets in Downtown. The temporary site will be on the fifth floor of the building and will include a mix of offices, classrooms and study spaces.
UF plans to stay at JEA headquarters for up to five years while a permanent facility is built. Leaders from JEA and UF still have to approve and sign a contract before UF can move in, the utility said.
According to documents from the meeting, the university will initially offer nine master’s degrees from five colleges:
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- Management in artificial intelligence.
- Artificial intelligence and analytics.
- Engineering management in data analytics.
- Computer science in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.
- Artificial intelligence in biomedical and health sciences.
- Physician assistant studies.
- Genetic counseling.
- Legal studies.
- Architectural studies.
A master’s degree in health administration for executives was withdrawn during the meeting after discussions between the University of North Florida and UF determined it to be too similar to a degree UNF already offered.
University of Florida President Ben Sasse said the plan for the new campus is to have students move between the classroom and the real world as much as possible.
“We think the new world [of higher education] will have students going back and forth between practical experiences and classroom many times over the course of their life,” Sasse said.
Sasse also said UF plans to have tuition rates at market value to keep the UF Jacksonville campus self-sufficient. The university will do more research to come up with tuition rates so the Board of Governors can vote on them at a later date.
Mori Hosseini, chair of the UF board of trustees, said the university already has $250 million in financial commitments for the campus from various sources like state and local governments and philanthropic efforts. He said the school will need $50 million more for the campus and he is confident they will be able to raise that money.
Even though a new graduate campus is headed to Jacksonville, officials believe this will raise the profile of both the University of Florida and the University of North Florida. The two schools recently started a collaboration committee to find ways both can benefit.
Limayem said he believes the new UF campus in his university’s own backyard is a win for everyone.
“I cannot tell you how excited we are about this collaboration. My colleagues always hear me say “www,”, and that’s not World Wide Web; that’s a win win win. We want this to be a big win for our community in Northeast Florida but also for our state,” Limayem said.
The next major step in the process of bringing the graduate campus to Jacksonville will be UF’s decision to select a permanent location. Three options are on the table: near the Prime Osborn Convention Center, near the Downtown campus of Florida State College at Jacksonville, and at the fairgrounds near EverBank Stadium.
A decision on a permanent location is expected in the fall.
