University College Dublin

http://www.ucd.ie

University College Dublin is a dynamic university committed to excellence in teaching and learning inspired by excellence in research and scholarship. It is Ireland’s premier university, situated at Belfield, a 132 hectare campus 4km from Dublin city centre.

Established in 1854, University College Dublin has played a leading role in the history of the modern Irish state and it is dedicated to playing a key role in shaping Ireland’s future. As Ireland forges a new identity through relationships with international partners, University College Dublin will adopt an increasingly international outlook. One key element of this is outreach to China, evidenced in the establishment of the UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland in 2006.

University College Dublin is at the forefront of cutting-edge international research and its five colleges represent its key areas of scholarly and research expertise: arts and celtic studies; business and law; engineering, mathematical and physical sciences; human sciences; and life sciences.  For more than 150 years, University College Dublin has produced graduates of remarkable distinction including famous surgeons, architects, entrepreneurs and five of the country’s Taoisigh (Prime Ministers). Perhaps the best know of all its graduates is the writer James Joyce, who completed his Bachelor of Arts at the university in 1902.

Today, University College Dublin boasts a student population of more than 22,000, including some 2,000 international students from more than 50 countries around the world. As an educational gateway to Europe for international students, the university truly values social and cultural diversity.  More than 25% of the current student population is engaged in postgraduate research and scholarship. Each of the five colleges at the university has its own dedicated graduate school with the explicit task of enhancing doctoral and post-doctoral research to match the national strategy of establishing Ireland as a premier source of 4th level education and research.

World-leading research is conducted at the various research institutes across the university including: the UCD Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research; UCD Geary Institute (Research for the Social Sciences); UCD Humanities Institute of Ireland; UCD Clinton Institute for American Studies; UCD Confucius Institute; UCD Urban Institute of Ireland; National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training; the Centre for Synthesis and Chemical Biology; and the Centre for Research in Infectious Diseases.  Through NovaUCD, the university’s unique Innovation & Technology Transfer Centre, University College Dublin drives commercialisation of academic research and partnerships with industry. NovaUCD is located in a 30-acre innovation park in the southwest corner of the campus which houses 25 campus companies.

To accommodate its phenomenal growth, during the 1960s and 1970s, University College Dublin relocated from St Stephen's Green in Dublin city centre where it was first established, to the Belfield campus 4 miles from the city centre. The university still maintains Newman House, St Stephen’s Green, one of its original buildings and there is also a campus facility at Blackrock, County Dublin, where the UCD Smurfit School of Business is located.  University College Dublin has recently published a new campus development plan to chart the physical evolution of the Belfield campus for the coming decade. This plan includes a vision for world class architecture, a more than ten-fold increase in the boundary woodland and the network of pedestrian walkways, and a transformation of the academic infrastructure at the university to reflect the ambitions of a leading European university.

Through its membership in U21 UCD will be able to provide its students and staff with an exciting and innovative range of opportunities for collaboration at every level with some of the world’s leading universities. This will include not only innovative mechanisms for mobility, but also the potential for large-scale research partnerships in key areas.

The Universitas 21 Manager at University College Dublin is Dr Erik Lithander, Director of International Strategy and Operations.