UCD sets out its path to 2030 with launch of new strategy

Posted 19 November, 2024

University College Dublin has launched its Strategy to 2030, Breaking Boundaries, which sets the course for the next stage of the university’s development and growth.

Under the new strategy, Ireland’s largest and most influential university will grow the range of opportunities for students to develop their knowledge and skills and realise their potential in areas also linked to Ireland’s future societal and economic success, including significant new provision in lifelong learning and skills development.

UCD will also expand cross-cutting research in areas of excellence and impact within the university, such as artificial intelligence, One Health, sustainability and research for policy, and it will expand its commitment to Ireland’s national culture, heritage and language.

The university also plans to grow its strategic global partnerships and partnerships with industry, and to enhance and integrate its physical and digital campuses.

Specific actions to be taken under the new Strategy to 2030, Breaking Boundaries include:

• The establishment of a major new institute for AI and digital technologies research, education, ethics and policy.
• A new round of hiring of early-stage faculty under the university’s Ad Astra programme, with 50 new positions to be advertised early in 2025.
• The development of new facilities to showcase and expand access to the university’s outstanding range of cultural and heritage collections. 
• Steps to reduce the university’s carbon emissions by 51% by 2030, and to be on track for net zero by 2040.

“University College Dublin is a university that makes a clear positive difference and delivers impact through our education, research and engagement. This is evident in Ireland, where we have made an unparalleled contribution to the country from the foundation of the state to our recent economic and societal transformation, and now increasingly around the world,” said UCD President, Professor Orla Feely.

“In this strategy, we consider how we will step up our impact and all that we deliver as we enter the second quarter of this highly disruptive century.”

“The ideas within the strategy are the result of widespread consultation across our university community and with stakeholders. We now look forward to working with all those groups as we implement the strategy, advancing our ambition while reflecting our values through fast-changing times,” she continued.

“Delivering on the full potential of the strategy will draw on the excellence, commitment and creativity of all in our UCD community and will also require the resources and funding that enable their work.”

“To this end, we need a government that is committed to investment in higher education and research, recognising them as key drivers of our economy, our nation’s health, our cultural heritage and our democratic society,” concluded President Feely.

Under the new strategy, by 2030 UCD will be a leader in university innovation and entrepreneurship, supporting Irish and European industrial competitiveness; a leader in knowledge generation, learning and action across the sustainability agenda; and a source of insight and objectivity on issues of vital importance to society in uncertain times.

The period of this new strategy will take UCD to the end of 2029 and the 175th anniversary of the foundation of the university.

UCD has a student population of 34,325 including more than 23,000 undergraduate students and over 11,000 graduate students and PhD candidates.

There are also over 5,000 students at its overseas campuses. It is Ireland’s leader in EU Horizon Europe Funding with €107 million secured under the Programme to date. The university also recorded a record total of €220 million in new research funding awards in the last financial year.

By: Dominic Martella, Head of External Communications

To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie