Miles SmithThe University of Texas San Antonio and UT Health San Antonio will integrate into one unified institution by 2025 following action taken today by the University of Texas System Board of Regents.
In a related motion, the board voted to appoint UT San Antonio President Taylor Eighmy as president of the new aligned university once it’s accredited.
“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, healthcare, and innovation,” Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife said. “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.”
UT Health San Antonio, the largest academic health research institution in South Texas, ranks in the top 3% globally for NIH funding. UTSA, a top tier (Carnegie R1) research institution, educates 35,000 students across seven colleges and interdisciplinary schools.
The merger will enhance the potential of both institutions, transforming San Antonio and South Texas into a global hub of academic and research excellence, the board of regents said.
The combined institution would become the third-largest research university in Texas, with annual research expenditures nearing $470 million to go with six federally funded research and development centers.
The merger is not the first for the UT System. Other realignments, mergers and expansions include The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and its medical school, the merger of UT Tyler with UT Health Science Center Tyler, the recent acquisition of Stephen F. Austin State University as a UT institution, the creation of a UT MD Anderson hospital and new UT Austin hospital on the UT Austin campus, and a recently announced planned expansion of UT Arlington into west Fort Worth.
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