UT Austin releases 10-year plan to become 'highest impact' public research university

The University of Texas released its strategic plan on Tuesday morning outlining its 10-year blueprint to become the “highest-impact public research university in the world.” The plan, known as ‘Change Starts Here,’ includes 42 initiative areas across five different pillars: people, place, experiences, education, and research. Some of UT’s goals include boosting its four-year and six-year graduation rates; increasing its housing capacity; and improving the campus experience for faculty and staff members. UT officials and campus leaders conducted surveys, focus groups and interviews with hundreds of students, faculty and staff members during the 16 months spent developing the plan, which also addresses how UT will increase research, scholarship activity and funding in various fields.

“Our collective ability to change lives, power social mobility, and solve great challenges is extraordinary — and more important than ever given the pace of change and the global opportunities we have ahead of us,” UT President Jay Hartzell wrote in the plan. "To make the most out of our special position, we must audaciously elevate our ambitions while reinforcing our core commitment to UT’s mission and values.” In addition to the 95-page strategic plan, UT published its Plan for an Equitable and Inclusive Campus Strategic Direction, titled "You Belong Here," which outlines UT’s diversity and equity goals under five pillars: Representation, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging and Transparency. The overarching strategic plan is the most recent comprehensive review of UT’s vision for its future since a report published by the Commission of 125 in 2004. The previous commission was a group of more than 200 people — mostly UT alumni and Texans — whom UT asked to express a vision of how the university could “best serve Texas and society”