education news

UT Austin excels as top grad school while San Antonio campus lags behind, says U.S. News

University of Texas at San Antonio, UTSA

UTSA has the 10th best graduate education school in Texas, according to U.S. News.

University of Texas at San Antonio/Facebook

Texas' top public university has done it again, but its San Antonio campus has some catching up to do. (At least it seems to be on its way in other studies.)

U.S. News and World Report has named The University of Texas at Austin among the best graduate schools in the state, with some departments landing among the top 10 and 20 in the country. The San Antonio campus' best rankings were only in the top 80.

U.S. News publishes its annual national "Best Graduate Schools" rankings, which look at several programs including business, education, engineering, fine arts, health, and many others. For the 2024 report, the publication decided to withhold its rankings for engineering and medical schools. It also changed the methodology for ranking business schools by adding a new "salary indicator" based on a graduate's profession.

U.S. News also added new rankings for doctoral and master's programs in several medical fields for the first time in four years, or even longer in some cases. New specialty program rankings include audiology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, pharmacy, nurse midwifery, speech-language pathology, nurse anesthesia, and social work.

"Depending on the job or field, earning a graduate degree may lead to higher earnings, career advancement and specialized skill development," wrote Sarah Wood, a U.S. News Education reporter. "But with several types of degrees and hundreds of graduate schools, it can be difficult to narrow down the options."

San Antonio university rankings
Three San Antonio universities made it in the statewide rankings for Best Education Schools (as in, schools for aspiring educators), Best Law Schools, Best Nursing Schools, and a few specialty graduate programs.

The University of Texas at San Antonio ranked No. 10 in the statewide ranking for Best Education Schools, but failed to make it within the top 100 in the national ranking in the same category. The university went unranked in the category for Best Business Schools.

UTSA performed the best in the new ranking for social work programs, coming in at No. 5 in Texas and No. 77 in the U.S. The only other program to break the top 100 nationally was its graduate statistics program, earning No. 79 when it was last ranked in 2022.

Meanwhile, St. Mary's University's Law School ranked No. 8 in Texas, and No. 153 nationally. Its part-time law program ranked No. 37 in the U.S.

The University of the Incarnate Word has the No. 8 best graduate nursing school in Texas, but it tied for No. 153-169 in the national ranking. However, its doctorate pharmacy program ranked No. 6 in Texas, and No. 86 in the nation.

UT Austin's rankings
UT Austin maintained its status as the top graduate university in Texas, earning the No. 1 spot in all statewide rankings, including Best Education Schools, Best Law Schools, Best Business Schools, and Best Nursing Schools.

Because some category rankings have not been released, UT Austin’s Dell Medical School is unranked in the “Best Medical Schools: Research” and “Primary Care” categories.

Among the new category rankings in 2024, UT's pharmacy program ranked No. 6 nationally, while the social work program came in at No. 8 overall. The graduate audiology program ranked No. 12 in the nation, and the speech-language pathology program ranked No. 14.

Four graduate programs were named No. 1 in the U.S., but only one was ranked in 2024: The McCombs School of Business' Accounting program. The remaining three programs were in Petroleum Engineering (last ranked in 2023), Latin American History (last ranked in 2021), and Sociology of Population (last ranked in 2021).

“These rankings are striking and reflect our ability to continue to attract exceptional faculty and students," said President Jay Hartzell in a release. "Our excellence is evident in our set of more than 40 schools, programs and specialties ranked in the top-10 in this partial release alone, including several that are the best in the country, if not the world."

Here’s how UT Austin compares nationally in U.S. News’ overall rankings:

No. 7 – Best Engineering Schools, last ranked in 2023
No. 8 – Best Education Schools, up from No. 16 in 2023
No. 16 – Best Law Schools, up from No. 17 in 2023
No. 16 – Best Business Schools, up from No. 20 in 2023
No. 14 – Best Nursing Schools: Master’s, up from No. 20 in 2023
No. 26 – Best Nursing Schools: Doctor of Nursing Practice, down from No. 23 in 2023

The full list of best graduate schools can be found on usnews.com.

universities us news & world report rankings austin university of texas ut austin utsa san antonio

Red Light

San Antonio City Council votes to end horse-drawn carriage rides by 2030

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Horses will no longer pull carriages on the streets of downtown San Antonio.

Life for a horse in San Antonio is about to look a lot different. City Council has unanimously voted (with one abstention) to phase out the use of horse-drawn carriages over the next five years. That means by January 1, 2030, there will be none on the streets at all; instead, there will be electric carriages.

These plans have been in the making since 2022 — if not always at the same level of intensity — when District 2 Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez and District 3 Councilmember Phyllis Viagran wrote up some concerns about the horses' wellbeing. A special session at the end of October 2024 hinted to San Antonians that the end for this practice was neigh — sorry, nigh — and the final vote was made on December 12. In addition to accepting the plan, it extended its timeframe by two years.

The initial proposal included worries about the horses' exposure to traffic and pollution, as well how their presence might exacerbate those issues for the environment at large by slowing traffic. It also raised concerns about the effects of standing or walking on hard surfaces for too long, or spending time in extreme weather.

At the December 12 meeting, San Antonians gave impassioned speeches about animal welfare — both to call attention to the need for better conditions and to defend the reputations and jobs of current horse drivers — but it wasn't the first time the council heard from the public about the issue.

In a prior city survey, 50,476 respondents weighed in. Of those respondents, 51.98 percent said they liked the idea to "Transition horse-drawn carriages to electric carriages and pedicabs and ban horse drawn carriages completely." There were alternative solutions listed, but respondents were less drawn to them.

A cultural divide emerged in the data and continued in the December meeting: some people avoided the carriages because they worried about the treatment of the horses, while others enjoyed them because of their historical echoes and living legacy. Many speakers in favor of the plan used this to form their argument, raising questions about history versus progress.

More tangible objections to the plan hinged on the businesses — specifically five companies — and jobs that would be lost, which was the main factor behind extending the adjustment period.

Discussions about the particulars of the electric vehicles are still to come, as confirmed in the discussion near the end of the meeting. Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez addressed concerns about what would happen to the horses, mentioning the Brady Hunter Foundation as a future partner in finding them rescue homes.

Some council members also brought up rhetorical questions about animal exploitation by groups like Sea World, the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, military and police forces, and even various groups in the Fiesta parade, although these did not come with a formal motion to pick the issues up.

This decision could have a ripple effect on other Texas cities. Dallas has recently considered a similar ban, but it appears to have stalled; Austin's attempts at a ban have been unsuccessful, but according to the Austin-American Statesman, only one operator is permitted to bring horses downtown. She declines to do so because the long hours are unfair to her and the horses. Houston does have horse-drawn carriages, and there seems to be little conversation about banning them.

Cities like Chicago and Salt Lake City have led the charge in the United States with some of the most prominent successful bans. Other cities around the world with bans include Brussels and Guadalajara, which both switched to electric models. Bans that have been around for years, like Guadalajara's and Prague's, still aren't out of the woods — people are still pushing back on the decision, so it sounds like San Antonio still has much work cut out for it.

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