Bridgeport's South End is home to the University of Bridgeport. Image courtesy of Google Maps

The heads of four major Connecticut institutions of higher learning announced a plan Tuesday that would preserve, or even grow, the industry’s presence in Connecticut’s biggest city.

The financially troubled University of Bridgeport would be absorbed piecemeal into Fairfield’s Sacred Heart University, East Hartford’s Goodwin College and Hamden’s Paier College of Art under the plan.

The schools would buy the university’s individual schools, maintaining them on the Bridgeport campus and paying off the university’s debts.

UB has faced significant financial challenges in recent years that precluded the possibility of expansions or major investments that might spill over into the city which hosts it. And COVID-19 has battered many schools’ pocketbooks and thrown the structure of the coming academic year into doubt.

The plan, which still needs vetting from regulatory bodies, would stabilize the school and could let its successors grow in future years.

“This venture presents a proactive plan to strengthen the University of Bridgeport in order to protect the futures of our students,” University of Bridgeport Board Chair Robert Berchem said in a statement. “Goodwin University’s president, Mark Scheinberg, has a vision to bring together educational organizations, economic drivers and city leaders in a collaboration that gives students a solid path through higher education that enables them to build the future they envision.”

Goodwin already serves a diverse student body and would bring that expertise to the UB programs it would acquire.

“The school is well recognized for its health care and manufacturing programs and would likely establish a presence for those disciplines in Bridgeport,” UB said in a statement.