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.
The project has been called for, and is partially funded by, the Red McCombs School of Business. Faulkner said he envisions other colleges also taking advantage of the facility, which he called a "first-rate academically oriented center fostering learning and teamwork."
George Gau, dean of the business school, said the center would increase involvement between the University and major companies, and described it as a "high quality" dormitory.
"For us it's not a conference center, it's a residential learning facility," Gau said. "What we want to do is to create a facility to engage more companies and executives with high level companies ... By having that, we can have programs to develop a relationship with companies and use that relationship to help our students. It will be a combination of high quality classrooms and sleeping quarters."
The University announced Wednesday that it would no longer consider the use of eminent domain an option in acquiring a tract of land where the hamburger restaurant Player's sits, and would begin to find ways to build around it. Negotiations with Player's owners are continuing, however.
UT officials will present the final design of the complex to the Board of Regents in May.
Additional reporting by Kristi Hsu.
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