BOSTON

Radcliffe College, the 120-year-old sister school of Harvard University, will cease to exist as an independent institution under a long-anticipated merger plan revealed last week.

The prestigious college, where women undergraduates at Harvard were automatically enrolled, will become the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, a research centre under the control of Harvard, and will no longer award degrees.

Instead of a president, Radcliffe will have a dean, who will be appointed by the president of Harvard. The institute will specialise in gender issues and be open to men as well as women.

Nancy-Beth Gordon Sheerr, who chairs the Radcliffe board of trustees, called the development "a natural progression in Radcliffe's history".

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But many alumni opposed the merger, saying it would marginalise their alma mater and put it on a par with Harvard's museums and botanical garden. The 30,000 Radcliffe alumni were informed of the agreement by mail.

To sweeten the deal, Harvard agreed to pay $150 million towards the existing Radcliffe endowment, in effect doubling it. Interest from the money will be used to operate the institute.

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Radcliffe was established in 1879 as the "Harvard Annex" for women, who were not allowed to study at Harvard until the second world war and could not receive Harvard diplomas until 1963. In 1975, a joint admissions office was opened. Since 1977, female students have been admitted to Radcliffe but have studied at Harvard and received a diploma signed by the presidents of both schools.

Beginning next year, women applicants will apply only to Harvard, just as men do, and their degrees will be from Harvard only.