A sister school is usually a pair of schools, usually single-sex school, one with female students and the other with male students.^[1] This relationship is seen to benefit both schools.^[2] For instance, when Harvard University was a male-only school, Radcliffe University was its sister school.^[3] The sister school concept as a single-sex school began to change as several institutions adopted coeducational environments starting in the 1970s due to the increasing awareness or consciousness about sex bias and discrimination.^[4]

Background

The term sister school (or brother school) has several alternate meanings:

• a definite financial commerce between two colleges or universities
• two schools that have a strong historical connection
• two schools which have social activities involving students from both schools
• two schools under the same management
• two schools built using the same floor plan/layout
• two schools in different nations that have established a collaborative international partnership.