About UCD

UCD has one of the largest urban campuses in Europe, and contains not only the buildings in which students live and study, but also gorgeous parkland teeming with wildlife, art and fabulous facilities.

Ranked in the top 1% of higher education institutes worldwide, students love our flexible curriculum, and our research-intensive academic staff comprises leading national and international opinion leaders and influencers.

The Campus

The UCD Campus has to be experienced to be believed. Our facilities include vaults of historical record, the biggest animal hospital in Ireland (and animal A&E for Dublin), world-class teaching and research facilities, excellent accommodation, a huge sports centre with Olympic-size swimming pool, and interactive laboratories, some of which are unique to UCD.

The People

At UCD, our faculty and staff are focussed on ensuring that all students have the best experience and receive the best education possible in an exciting, dynamic and supportive environment. One quarter of our student population is from outside Ireland and the EU, and over one third of our academic staff is from outside Ireland.

Number one for students & their welfare

More than 8,000 international students, from 136 countries, study at UCD
International students can benefit from UCD exchange programmes with over 400 leading university partners around the world
First university in Europe to open a Global Lounge - a hub for international students to socialise and meet students from Ireland and around the world
The UCD International Student Society is one of the largest societies on campus
The UCD International student support system includes a network of dedicated advisers and student peer mentors

Number one for education

Ranked among the top 1% of higher education institutions worldwide
The best internationally accredited curriculum in Ireland
The widest range and choice of degrees for students
The best teaching and learning structure for quality education
The most flexible, fully modularised curriculum in Ireland

Number one for global community

Many of the 287,000 global alumni network, living in 169 countries, hold positions in leading organisations around the world. The UCD alumni network is influential, successful, active and truly international.

Number one for international staff

International academics make up over 30% of UCD’s faculty, and over 50% of UCD research-funded staff is non-Irish.

Number one for research

UCD has the highest publications volume of all Irish universities, and is the number one university globally on citations per paper in the area of Food Science.

Number one for global connections

UCD is a member of several international research and education networks such as Universitas 21 (U21), the World Universities Network (WUN), and UNICA
UCD has global centres in Beijing, Delhi, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai and New York (as well as staff based out of Chicago, Los Angeles and Singapore)
UCD has a presence around the world through overseas programmes: UCD provides and accredits degree programmes in cooperation with partner institutions in China, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka
UCD established the first Confucius Institute in Ireland in 2006. It has been declared three times “Confucius Institute of the Year” three times, and 2018 saw the first custom-designed Confucius Institute building in the world open at UCD.

Cultural & Social Programme

An essential part of studying abroad is for you to experience the local culture and traditions of your host country. UCD Global provides a complimentary Cultural & Social Programme for our Study Abroad students. We'll take you on various cultural nights out in the city and day tours across the island!

Music, theatre and comedy shows; national parks and heritage sites; hiking and cycling trips; castle, cave and factory tours! We're also known to throw a party or two during the trimester i.e. Welcome Reception, Thanksgiving Dinner, Super Bowl Night and much more.

This series of activities and excursions are completely FREE to attend and we encourage you to sign up to as many as you wish! At the beginning of term we'll send you a calendar of events which you can sign up for at any time during the trimester.

Check out what we got up to last term!