BANGOR (AP) – A panel of University of Maine System trustees Tuesday unanimously approved an amended reorganization plan designed to save more than $12 million a year.

The revisions include Chancellor Joseph Westphal’s recommendation to create a “consortium” in which the Machias, Presque Isle and Fort Kent campuses would have separate administrations but would collaborate on academic programs and budgets, the Bangor Daily News reported.

Under the amended plan, only the flagship University of Maine campus would keep its current name.

The remaining universities and the system itself will go through a market research and branding process to determine which new names will best suit their missions and the communities they serve, according to UMS spokesman John Diamond.

“We’ve done some research that shows there is considerable confusion about what is the University of Maine and the relationships among the seven campuses,” Diamond said.

The plan approved Tuesday retains many key aspects of the original plan presented in March, such as merging the University of Maine at Augusta with the University of Southern Maine; gradually transferring associate degrees to the Maine Community College System; establishing clear roles and signature programs for each of the seven universities; and allocating funds to each campus based on a set of performance measures.

The original plan drew criticism from various quarters, much of it directed at the proposal to merge the Presque Isle, Fort Kent and Machias campuses into a University of Northern Maine.

“I think we’ve come a long way since we first began talking,” Westphal said after Tuesday’s meeting at the system office in Bangor. “We’ve addressed so many tough issues for the system.”

Westphal predicted that the Legislature would look favorably upon the plan and realize that “we’re trying to eliminate redundancy and duplication,” just like the state.

The proposal will be presented to the full board of trustees at its Sept. 19-20 meeting at the University of Maine. The timetable calls for a implementation plan to be developed by next March with the actual implementation expected to take three years.