Founded in 1883 as a small campus on 40 acres near the state capitol in the heart of the scenic Central Texas Hill Country, The University of Texas at Austin has come far from its beginning, when it had only one building, eight teachers, two departments and 221 students. The main campus now covers more than 350 acres. The academic flagship of the University of Texas System’s 15 academic and health institutions, the university enrolls almost 49,000 students, about 25 percent in graduate and professional programs.