As Ireland’s largest university, with its great strength and diversity of disciplines, University College Dublin (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.
Founded in 1854, UCD was created from an idea, The Idea of a University, written by our founding Rector St John Henry Newman. This classic work is one of the most enduring texts on the value of higher education. Today the University’s Strategy 2020-2024, Rising to the Future outlines the objectives and major strategic initiatives set in place in order to accomplish UCD’s vision for this era.
Fast Facts
- Established: 1854
- Number of students: 35,286 (2022)
- UCD is Ireland’s largest university with over 297,000 alumni across 169 countries.
- UCD is Ireland’s leader in postgraduate education with 12,093 graduate students and 1,841 PhD students.
- UCD is home to 9,462 international students and 33% of staff are international.
- One of Europe’s leading research-intensive universities UCD has won over €1bn in externally funded research contracts since 2010 and collaborates with researchers in more than 130 countries.
- As well as generations of Irish business, professional, cultural and sporting leaders perhaps the best known of all UCD’s graduates is the writer James Joyce, who completed his Bachelor of Arts at the university in 1902.
PROF. ORLA FEELY
President