Mercer County Community College students who complete an associate degree in Business Administration will be seamlessly admitted with full junior status to New Jersey City University’s School of Business, per a dual admissions program agreement announced Thursday.

This partnership allows Mercer students to transfer their associate degree in Business Administration to a number of NJCU programs, including marketing, finance, accounting and more. Students can plan admission to NJCU as early as their first semester and may transfer at any point after earning their associate degree from MCCC.

“Mercer has many articulation agreements with many institutions but this one is very unique,” said MCCC President Jianping Wang in a statement. “The population NJCU serves in Jersey City is very similar to the populations we serve in New Jersey’s capital city.”

As part of the arrangement, Mercer students will have access to NJCU admissions and financial aid advisors; and it guarantees eligible students will have their place at NJCU reserved, thus easing their transition to the University.

“This partnership constitutes a milestone for our students,” said MCCC Dean of Business and STEM Farah Bennani, adding that the partnership was made possible by the collaborative efforts of Mercer Professors Laura Sosa, Josephine Mathias, Kenneth Horowitz and Jonathan Rowe, as well as the NJCU team.

“We have eliminated the challenges of transferring from a community college to a four-year university, thus improving our students’ chance of overall success while supporting state and national completion goals,” Bennani said in a prepared statement. “It also validates our program and strengthens our long-standing relationship with NJCU.”

Prior to this agreement, the two schools initiated articulation and dual admissions agreements between their criminal justice programs. MCCC has agreements with other four year universities as well, including Rider and William Paterson.

“I see these agreements paving the way for a lot of people,” Wang said.