| The University of Texas at Austin (full official name), often UT or Texas for short, is the flagship institution of The University of Texas System, the largest public university system in Texas, established in 1883. Consistently ranked as one of the top public schools in the nation, it has a student population around 53,000 -- the largest at a single campus in the nation. The school has many notable academic programs, including national top ten programs in engineering, computer science, business, Law and public affairs, among others. Its astronomy department administrates the McDonald Observatory located in the Davis Mountains of West Texas. |