University College Dublin (UCD) is one of Europe’s leading research-intensive universities where undergraduate education, postgraduate masters and PhD training, research, innovation and community engagement form a dynamic continuum of activity. It is located in Dublin, the capital of Ireland.
Founded in 1854 by John Henry Cardinal Newman, UCD was set up as an inclusive Irish university. Today, UCD is Ireland’s largest university and is the most popular destination for Irish school leavers. UCD offers a variety of academic areas in 43 subjects to 33,460 students drawn from 131 countries. There are 8,652 graduate students and 1,546 PhD students, supported by 1,520 academic staff and 1,700 support staff, and an annual turnover of €434 million.
Moreover, UCD is currently ranked within the top 1% of institutions world-wide and has won over 500 million euro in externally funded research in the last 5 years.
Furthermore, this University has participated in the Erasmus mobility programme since it was launched in 1987, and through this and other EU-funded programmes, has built up strong institutional experience and expertise in the area of mobility and international engagement. In fact, UCD’s Strategy 2015-2020 has aimed to position this institution ‘within the top ten universities in the world in terms of global engagement’. To this aim, UCD has reviewed its curriculum to give a greater focus to internships and deepen collaborations with third-level institutions overseas as part of a new five-year strategy. Currently over 700 students are studying at 400 partner universities abroad each year, which is almost twice the national rate.
Finally, UCD’s commitment to the development of sustainable international partnerships is central to global engagement at this institution. These relationships provide opportunities for faculty to partner on collaborative research, for students or staff to participate on mobility programmes and for worldwide alumni to engage with each other through the university’s network of Global Chapters.