The University is organized into seven schools, each with subspecialties and degree-granting programs at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels.

Located near the heart of downtown Houston, with a sprawling 45-building campus situated on 150 acres of land, Texas Southern University is unique in its contribution to higher education. TSU is one of two comprehensive Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in the world and one of only two, four-year colleges in Texas with an open enrollment policy, accepting all eligible students with a high school diploma or GED equivalent.

TSU is the only university in the state that offers health profession programs in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and, as a "special purpose institution for urban programming," the University measures its success by the impact its graduates have on society. Texas Southern University has served as a cornerstone for developing the greatest potential in leaders from various socioeconomic, cultural, and racial backgrounds.

More than 9,000 students, faculty, and staff comprise the University's community, and like its curricula, the student body is characterized by diversity. While many of the undergraduate and graduate students enrolled are native Texans, the student and faculty population is represented by almost every state in America, including the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, and by more than 50 nations. Texas Southern's international student population hails from such places as Africa, Canada, Canal Zone, the Caribbean, Central America, China, Europe, Mexico, South Asia, and the West Indies.

A number of prominent local attorneys and state representatives are alumni of the University's Thurgood Marshall School of Law, which is one of four Texas public law schools and one of four national American Bar Association-accredited law schools associated with HBCUs. Of the State Bar's African-American members, 27 percent received their legal training at Texas Southern.

With 40 percent of the state's minority enrollment, Texas Southern's pharmacy program is one of only three in the state and 79 nationwide, including three other HBCUs. In Texas, the University clearly dominates in training African American pharmacists, counting for 88 percent of African American pharmacy majors in the state and educating approximately one third of the African American pharmacists in the nation.

In addition, Texas Southern's participation in the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Preparation Program (LSAMP) has increased the number of students receiving bachelor's degrees in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. Along with successes in private entrepreneurship, graduates also serve society through careers in city, state, and national governments, as well as other public sectors.

Likewise, the art community has benefited greatly from the outpouring of talent from Texas Southern, which includes producing acclaimed vocalists, musicians, and visual artists. However, the single most significant area in which the University's graduates have had an impact is within the field of education. Approximately 40 percent of the teachers in the Houston Independent School District are graduates of the University.

In addition to its student body, Texas Southern's faculty has drawn the largest concentration of multi-ethnic scholars in the world, ensuring an academic environment rich in universal expertise and with various cultural blends. Select faculty research endeavors include areas of environmental health and science, alternative energy technology, diseases affecting minorities, transportation, space science, superconductivity, and computer science.