AUSTIN – When it comes to educating Hispanics, several University of Texas System institutions were recognized as being among the best in the areas of business, engineering, law and health, according to the September issue of Hispanic Business magazine.
UT Austin was ranked second in business, third in law and sixth in engineering while UT El Paso’s engineering program received top billing in the magazine’s “2007 Best School for Hispanics” survey.
Additionally, the publication tapped four UT System institutions among the 10 best medical schools for Hispanics, including the No. 1 pick, UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. The other UT System health institutions on the list are UT Medical Branch at Galveston (No. 4), UT Health Science Center at San Antonio (No. 5) and UT Health Science Center at Houston (No. 7).
“Higher education is a social as well as academic experience, so attending a campus with at least some ethnic peers and faculty can make a big difference for any student,” the publication stated. The magazine’s rankings take into account academic excellence, enrollment, faculty, student services and retention rates.
“In Texas and the nation, a young, rapidly growing Hispanic community is creating an increasing demand for higher education. We are working hard to meet that demand and to ensure that our students enjoy successful college experiences and graduate to productive careers,” UT System Chancellor Mark G. Yudof said. “While these rankings are encouraging, we are never one to rest on our laurels and will continue to improve minority participation and success at the collegiate level.”
Last year, UT System four-year institutions collectively enrolled 69,958 Hispanic students, which accounted for 61.5 percent of all Hispanics attending public universities in the state, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Within the UT System, Hispanics represented 37.4 percent of all students. Also, four UT System institutions were among the top 10 in the country last year that awarded bachelor’s degrees to Hispanics.
According to U.S. Department of Education figures, UT Pan American awarded the second-highest number of degrees (1,889) to the ethnic group in 2006, followed by UT San Antonio (third, with 1,616), UT El Paso (fourth, with 1,555) and UT Austin (ninth, with 1,148). UT Pan American (No. 5), UT El Paso (No. 6) and UT San Antonio (No. 8) were among colleges that awarded the most master’s degrees to Hispanics in 2006; while UT Austin was first among colleges to award doctoral degrees to Hispanics that year.
And in 2004, four UT System health institutions were among the top eight in the country conferring medical degrees to Hispanics. Those institutions – UT Health Science Center at San Antonio (No. 3), UT Medical Branch at Galveston (No. 4), UT Health Science Center at Houston (No. 5) and UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas (No. 8) – awarded 14 percent of all medical degrees conferred to Hispanics that year, according to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities.
The University of Texas System is one of the nation’s largest higher education systems, with nine academic campuses and six health institutions. The UT System has an annual operating budget of $10.7 billion (FY 2008) including $2.3 billion in research funded by federal, state, local and private sources. Student enrollment exceeded 190,000 in the 2006 academic year. The UT System confers more than one-third of the state's undergraduate degrees and educates nearly three-fourths of the state's health care professionals annually. With more than 80,000 employees, the UT System is one of the largest employers in the state.
