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Registrar's Web Team
19 August 1997
The University of Texas at Austin, established in 1883, is a major research institution. It is the largest member of The University of Texas System. The University has grown from one building, two departments, eight faculty members, and 221 students on a forty-acre tract to a campus of more than three hundred acres, with more than 110 buildings. The enrollment is about forty-nine thousand.
The faculty includes members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize winners. The University awards the largest number of doctoral degrees in the South and is one of three southwestern members of the Association of American Universities.
The Graduate School (which does not include the School of Law) was established in 1909. More than eleven thousand graduate students are enrolled; about eight hundred doctoral degrees and more than twenty-five hundred master's degrees are awarded each year.
The administration of the Graduate School is the responsibility of the vice president and dean of graduate studies. Graduate degrees are available in about ninety fields. Each academic area that offers a graduate degree has a Graduate Studies Committee, a group consisting of all the assistant, associate, and full professors who are active in that graduate degree program. The Graduate Studies Committee recommends students for admission to the program, sets requirements for the graduate degrees in that area, and recommends students for admission to candidacy for degrees. Graduate education is the responsibility of the members of Graduate Studies Committees. One member serves as the graduate adviser to register and advise all graduate students, to maintain records, and to represent the Graduate School in matters pertaining to graduate work in that area.
Statement on Equal Educational Opportunity
To the extent provided by applicable law, no person shall be excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under, any program or activity sponsored or conducted by The University of Texas System or any of its component institutions on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, veteran status, or disability.
The Nature and Purpose of Graduate Work
Graduate work at the University is divided into disciplines. These are normally associated with departments; they may, however, be broader in scope, involving courses and research in several departments. The candidate for an advanced degree presents work done in a chosen major area, but usually he or she is also expected to have done supporting work on an advanced level (upper-division or graduate) in one or more relevant areas. There are three components of graduate study: coursework, independent study, and independent scholarly research leading to a report, thesis, dissertation, or treatise. In some areas, internships, field studies, and other professional experiences may also be an integral part of the program. The proportion of each type of study varies according to the previous training of the student and the nature of the major area.
The objective of graduate study is to develop the intellectual breadth and to provide the specialized training necessary to a career in teaching, in research, or in the professions. Emphasis is placed on the knowledge, methods, and skills needed for scholarly teaching, original research and problem solving, intellectual leadership, creative expression, and other modes of achievement in the student's discipline.
Graduate Degrees
Libraries and Other Academic Resources
Equal Educational Opportunity
Nature and Purpose of Graduate Work
Fields of Study
Joint Degree Programs
Doctoral Portfolio Programs
Cooperative Arrangements
Graduate Catalog
Contents
Chapter 1: Graduate Study
Chapter 2: Admission and Registration
Chapter 3: Degree Requirements
Chapter 4: Fields of Study
Chapter 5: Members of Graduate Studies Committees
Appendix: Course Abbreviations
Other UT Pages
Catalogs
Course Schedules
Academic Calendars