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San Antonio will soon be home to the third largest comprehensive public research university in the state.
The University of Texas System Board of Regents voted Thursday to combine the University of Texas at San Antonio and UT Health San Antonio — the system’s health institution in the city — by 2025, putting the 35,000-student university and UT Health San Antonio’s six health care schools under one umbrella. The merger means the new institution’s annual research expenditures will nearly reach $470 million, only behind the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University, according to the UT System.
“The impact of a unified presence is undeniable, and Texas will benefit immensely from this integration, which among many benefits, will enable greater public impact and enhanced global competitiveness,” UT System Chancellor James Milliken said in a statement.
Over the years, UTSA has helped San Antonio, the second biggest city in the state, improve its health care, biosciences, national security and data science industries through its research and academic programs. While the UT System has passed on combining the two institutions before, system leaders felt that “increasing national competitiveness in research and a growing demand and advantage for integrated academic and health systems — presents a new, exciting case for integration,” according to a FAQ about the merger.
The University of Michigan, the University of California Los Angeles and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have a similar structure with academic and health institutions existing as one.
The board tapped UT San Antonio President Taylor Eighmy to lead the new institution once it gets necessary approvals by a national accrediting agency, which reviews universities’ standards and must sign off on the integration. Eighmy has served as UTSA president since 2017.
Once combined, the new school will include six campuses across San Antonio with more than 40,000 students. University leaders say the goal is to combine the strengths of the university and health-related institution into one global academic and research hub for South Texas. The UT System said San Antonio is a critical gateway to South Texas, which is home to 5.5 million people and projected to grow to 6.1 million by 2040, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
"Great cities and great universities make each other better. It is time to marshal the talent, size and scale of UTSA and UTHSA to multiply their roles as global leaders in education, health care, and innovation,” UT Board Chair Kevin Eltife said in a statement. "By bringing together all of their complementary and unique strengths, we will give Texans access to the best education, discoveries and health care imaginable, while accelerating the university’s trajectory as a top U.S. and global university.”
Eighmy and the acting president of UTHSA, Rob Hromas, will lead the consolidation effort. The goal is to send a proposal for the accrediting agency to review by March and receive conditional approval by June.
According to the FAQ on the decision, the system said it is too soon to know what the financial impact of the merger will be or how it will affect jobs.
Over the past few years, the UT System has expanded and launched multiple realignments of its universities and health institutions. It launched the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and its medical school, merged the University of Texas at Tyler with UT Health Science Center Tyler and acquired Stephen F. Austin State University, which used to be one of the few public universities in the state that wasn’t part of a system.
The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
Disclosure: Institute for Economic Development - UTSA, Texas A&M University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas at San Antonio and University of Texas System have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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