The University of Alabama, The University of Alabama in Huntsville and Auburn University have launched a consortium that will join the three schools together to compete among the top aerospace programs in the country.

John Jackson, a professor and alumnus of the University of Alabama, said this agreement has been 18 years in the making. Separately, the only three aerospace programs in the state did not have the resources or means to compete among the top schools in the nation.  With this agreement, the three schools will work together to help the state be more competitive in the aerospace field.

“Because of the consortium, we can now compete against the top schools such as MIT and Georgia Tech,” Jackson said.

The purpose of the partnership is to bring the three colleges together and make it possible to share resources, courses and faculty.

According to Stanley Jones, head of the aerospace engineering and mechanics department, a program is already in the works to offer a class that will allow students from all three schools to be taught by one professor, which will be implemented in the spring 2012 semester.

This program is said to be the first of its kind in the state and will primarily benefit the Ph.D. program.

The college of engineering hopes the new program will attract more people to the aerospace engineering program and give students a better opportunity to compete with others. Before the consortium, the separate programs were relatively small and lacking in resources, as well as funding. The agreement allowed them to see what the others have and provide better research opportunities and experience for the students.

John Burkhalter, a professor at Auburn University, said he believes the program is a great idea.  He said the ability to leverage funds and jointly use resources will benefit each college.

“The concept is good,” he said, “we hire students for research projects all the time, and sometimes we need certain people with expertise, and if they are at another college, we can now utilize them and provide greater research results that benefit not just us, but everyone.”