The University of Tampa is best known for its powerhouse business school, a stunning historic campus anchored by a former luxury resort hotel, and one of the most decorated Division II athletic programs in the country. Located on a 110-acre campus along the Hillsborough River in downtown Tampa, Florida, UT enrolls roughly 10,600 undergraduates and 835 graduate students. U.S. News & World Report ranks it No. 13 among Regional Universities in the South and No. 9 for Most Innovative Schools in its 2026 rankings.
The Sykes College of Business
Business is by far the most popular field of study at UT, with 34% of graduates earning degrees in business, management, marketing, or a related discipline. The Sykes College of Business holds AACSB International accreditation at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, a distinction shared by only about 6% of business schools worldwide. Bloomberg Businessweek included it in its Best Business Schools 2025–2026 list, ranking it No. 27 in the U.S. for learning and No. 34 for entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship has been a particular standout. The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine ranked UT’s undergraduate and graduate entrepreneurship programs 17th and 20th nationally in 2020. The Lowth Entrepreneurship Center received the National Model Program Award from the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, recognizing it as a leading undergraduate entrepreneurship program. The MBA program has also earned recognition, landing on the Poets & Quants Top 100 U.S. MBA Programs list and receiving a top-tier rating from CEO Magazine.
Nursing and Health Professions
Health professions account for 12% of UT graduates, and the nursing program stands out for exceptional licensing exam results. Over the past 13 years, UT nursing graduates have posted a 97% pass rate on the NCLEX-RN, the national licensing exam for registered nurses. During the same period, the national average was 85.8%. In 2023, UT’s pass rate hit 100%. RegisteredNursing.org has rated the program No. 3 among RN programs in Florida, and RNCareers.org ranked it No. 22 nationally based on first-time pass rates.
Communication, Sciences, and Other Programs
Beyond business and nursing, UT draws significant enrollment in communication and journalism (10% of graduates), social sciences (10%), and biological and biomedical sciences (8%). The Princeton Review includes UT among the nation’s best 391 institutions for undergraduate education, and Forbes has featured it on its annual America’s Top Colleges list every year since 2010. The university has also been recognized as a top producer of both Fulbright scholars and Fulbright student award recipients in 2025 and 2026, a sign of strong faculty mentorship and undergraduate research opportunities.
Plant Hall and Campus Architecture
The visual centerpiece of campus is Plant Hall, a five-story structure topped with silver Moorish minarets, domes, and cupolas that make it one of the most recognizable buildings in Florida. It was not originally built as a university. Constructed between 1888 and 1891 at a cost of $2.5 million (enormous for that era), the 511-room building opened as the Tampa Bay Hotel, a lavish winter resort designed to outshine every competitor on the Gulf Coast. Its guest list over the years included Teddy Roosevelt, the Queen of England, author Stephen Crane, and Babe Ruth.
The hotel eventually closed, and in 1933 the building became the new home of the University of Tampa when the school relocated from a local high school. Today, those same ornate rooms serve as classrooms, laboratories, and administrative offices. Plant Hall sits at the heart of a 71-building campus that blends historic architecture with modern facilities, and it remains one of the main reasons prospective students and visitors remember UT immediately after a campus tour.
Division II Athletic Dominance
UT competes in NCAA Division II and has built one of the most successful athletic programs at that level. The baseball team is a perennial contender, winning the national championship in 2024 with a 52-8 record, then repeating as champions in 2025 by defeating Central Missouri 11-5 in the title game. The program’s championship history stretches back to at least 1992, giving it multiple decades of sustained excellence. Baseball is the most visible example, but UT’s broader athletic reputation makes it a destination for talented student-athletes who want a competitive program paired with strong academics at a mid-sized private university.
Location and Campus Life
Being in downtown Tampa gives students direct access to a growing metro area with a diverse economy spanning finance, healthcare, technology, and tourism. The campus sits on the waterfront, with views of the Tampa skyline, and the city’s professional sports venues, restaurants, and cultural attractions are minutes away. That urban setting, combined with Florida’s year-round warm weather, is a major part of UT’s appeal for students coming from across the country and internationally. The combination of a compact, walkable campus with a major city right outside the gates shapes the overall student experience in a way that few mid-sized private universities can match.