TSSG Competitors

University College Dublin is one of Europe's leading research-intensive universities; an environment where undergraduate education, masters and PhD training, research, innovation and community engagement form a dynamic spectrum of activity. With over 33,000 students drawn from 144 countries, including almost 4,000 students based on overseas campuses, UCD is not only Ireland's largest university but also its most globally engaged. UCD is ranked 118 in the world, according to the QS World University Rankings It is the 'university of destination' for international students coming to Ireland; UCD's international students make up 25% of its student body, while international academics make up 32% of faculty. The international standing of UCD has grown in recent years too; it is currently ranked within the top 1% of higher education institutions world-wide. UCD is Ireland's leader in graduate education with over 9,900 graduate students; almost 20% of whom are graduate research students. Over 1,660 PhD students benefit from the University's structured PhD programmes, as well as its research-led education culture. The UCD Horizons scheme of modern, modularised education based on learning outcomes sees 50% of students take modules outside their subject areas. As Ireland's largest university, with its great strength and diversity of disciplines, UCD embraces its role to contribute to the flourishing of Ireland through the study of people, society, business, economy, culture, languages and the creative arts, as well as through research and innovation. Updated - May 2021

Trinity College Dublin is recognised internationally as Ireland's premier university and is ranked joint 75th in the world (QS World University Rankings, 2024). In the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, Trinity is ranked 134th globally.

UCC was established in 1845 as one of three Queen’s Colleges at Cork, Galway and Belfast. These new colleges were founded in the reign of Queen Victoria and named after her. Queen's College, Cork (QCC) was established to provide access to higher education in the Irish province of Munster. The site chosen for the new college was dramatic and picturesque, on the edge of a limestone bluff overlooking the River Lee. On the 7th of November, 1849, QCC opened its doors to a small group of 115 students after a glittering inaugural ceremony in the Aula Maxima (Great Hall), which is still the symbolic and ceremonial heart of the University. From 1850, QCC was part of the Queen's University of Ireland and, from the 1880s, of the Royal University of Ireland. By the beginning the twentieth century, however, it was clear that higher education in Ireland required a new arrangement to permit the next stages of development. That change came in 1908 through the National University of Ireland (NUI), of which the former QCC, now University College Cork (UCC) is a founding member. Since 1908, UCC has grown from 115 students to over 20,000, from one building to dozens, from less than 20 staff to more than 1,600 today. Since 1997, we have become a university in our own right within the NUI, but we retain the UCC name as part of our heritage of learning since 1845.