GALVESTON - The UT System Board of Regents authorized the University to contract with a European company to manage a proposed UT hotel and conference center on Thursday.

The University wants FLIK International, a division of the Compass Group, to manage the center, which is projected to open September 2008. As part of the contract, FLIK will manage the center for 10 years initially, for a gradually increasing annual fee, starting at about $521,000. FLIK would receive $810,000 beginning in the sixth year.

The complex, dubbed The University of Texas Professional Education and Conference Center, is comprised of a 250-room hotel and multiple meeting rooms equipped with the latest in audio and video technology.

It will cater almost exclusively to UT visitors for events such as academic symposiums or fundraisers.

In UT President Larry Faulkner's presentation to the Board's Academic Affairs Committee Wednesday, he said such a facility is necessary to meet the evolving needs of higher education, where the focus on graduate and professional training is growing.

"What has happened in recent decades and what we can count on happening in a greater extent in future decades is the evolution of the University as people in mid-professional career seek education opportunities that are informally delivered and not in a semester basis and not necessarily in a formal degree program," Faulkner said.

The costs of operating the facility, he said, would be self-sustaining, adding that FLIK would not share in any of the center's profits.

"The important thing that needs focus is whether the project can break even," Faulkner said. "We are not in a position to subsidize the project ... It is less important for the project to become an income earner."

He acknowledged that UT is behind many of its national competitors in developing such a facility, and said there was a current trend to develop centers where teaching and academic support for professionals can take place.

Continued...

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