The University of Texas at Dallas is a public research university in the University of Texas System. The main campus is in the Richardson, Texas, Telecom Corridor, 18 miles (29 km) north of downtown Dallas. The institution, established in 1961 as the Graduate Research Center of the Southwest and later renamed the Southwest Center for Advanced Studies (SCAS), began as a research arm of Texas Instruments. In 1969, the founders bequeathed SCAS to the state of Texas officially creating The University of Texas at Dallas.

The Carnegie Foundation classifies the university as a doctorate granting & a "Highest Research Activity" institution in the United States. Research projects include the areas of Space Science, Bioengineering, Cybersecurity, Nanotechnology, Behavioral and Brain Sciences. The University of Texas at Dallas offers more than 138 academic programs across its eight schools and hosts more than 50 research centers and institutes. With a number of interdisciplinary degree programs, its curriculum is designed to allow study that crosses traditional disciplinary lines and to enable students to participate in collaborative research labs.

The school has a Division III athletics program in the American Southwest Conference and fields 13 intercollegiate teams. The university recruits worldwide for its chess team and has a nationally recognized debate team. For spring 2015 commencement, the university granted 1,779 bachelor's degrees, 1,685 master's degrees and 89 PhDs for a total of 3,553 degrees.

The University of Texas at Dallas is an innovative institution in the heart of North Texas on the path to achieving Tier One national research university status.

UT Dallas has grown since its founding in 1969 to include 138 degree programs, with cutting-edge curricula serving a variety of undergraduate and graduate student interests.

The University continues its original commitment to providing some of the state’s most-lauded science and engineering programs and has also gained prominence for a breadth of educational paths, from criminology to biomedical engineering to arts and technology.