The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley is less than a decade old, but from its inception university officials, and the UT System regents who authorized its creation, have expressed lofty goals. From the outset, they have insisted that they won’t be content simply to fill a glaring educational need for South Texas and Hispanic students, but to become one of the nation’s top universities.
Recent achievements by the university’s sister campus, UT-San Antonio, which has many similarities albeit in a much larger market, can help inspire and motivate local officials to keep working toward their goals.
UTRGV Founding officials announced that they intend to make the Valley’s university a Tier 1 school, a designation that identifies the top schools in the state. UTSA recently achieve that designation, which not only recognizes its excellence but also makes it eligible for major research funding that can help it attain even higher levels of achievement.
It’s only the fifth public university to earn the designation.
The state in 2009 created the Texas National Research University Fund to set a level of prestige among top universities. Tier 1 schools have access to $6 million a year in funding to improve research programs and recruit top researchers and scholars.
A young institution such as UTRGV needs time to develop the kinds of resources needed to meet these and other criteria, but they are attainable. Although the local college is one of the state’s youngest it already ranks among the top two dozen universities in the state, among nearly 100 reviewed by the uniRank educational rating service. It also is rated as one of the nation’s top minority- and Hispanic-serving institutions, and is rated as being one of the best educational values in higher education.
UTRGV already has achieved R2 status, Carnegie’s second tier of ratings. It also has earned widespread respect for its research programs. It’s young medical school has received grants to study diseases and treatments that affect the local community and beyond, such as diabetes and psychology, and its world-respected gravitational wave contributed to a study of black holes that earned the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Such designations are more than bragging rights. As noted, they qualify institutions for special funding that helps it improve and expand their programs even more. They also help attract even more top students who want to study at universities that are known for excellence in their chosen fields. Moreover, as we have seen with cooperative agreements formed between major companies and our university, high rankings help attract businesses that want to access qualified workers they can expect to find at a top school. Such investment helps the institution, but also the local economy as well.
Our university has made great strides in a short time. We trust the success of other schools inspires UTRGV officials to keep pursuing their goals, and local residents and businesses to provide whatever support they can to help the university achieve its goals.
