QS Top Universities: Schools

Why This University?

At Irelands premier university, the pursuit of excellence through research, scholarship and teaching is at the heart of a Trinity education. Founded in 1592, Trinity College Dublin is the oldest university in Ireland and one of the older universities of Western Europe. On todays campus, state-of-the-art libraries, laboratories and IT facilities stand alongside historic buildings on a city-centre 47-acre campus.

Trinity College Dublin (TCD) offers a unique educational experience across a range of disciplines in the arts, humanities, engineering, science, human, social and health sciences.

TCD has an outstanding record of publications in high-impact journals, and a track record in winning research funding which is among the best in the country. Students also benefit from a scholar teacher model where they have the opportunity of being taught by world-leading experts in their field.

Interdisciplinarity forms a key element in the College strategy in increasing Trinitys international standing as a research-led university. TCD has developed significant international strength in research in eight major themes which include globalisation; cancer; genetics; neuroscience; immunology and infection; communications and intelligent systems; nano and materials science as well as Irish culture and the creative arts.

Most of the universitys activities are carried out on the historic campus located in the heart of Dublin. The west end of the campus is laid out in five quadrangles with distinguished buildings from the 18th century, notably the Old Library. The Library of Trinity College is the largest research library in Ireland and is an invaluable resource to scholars. In addition to purchases and donations accrued over four centuries, the College has had 200 years of legal deposit. By this right Trinity can claim a copy of every book published in Ireland the UK. The Library contains 4.25 million volumes, 30,000 current serial titles as well as an extensive collection of manuscripts, the most famous being the Book of Kells.

Towards the east end of the campus the recently built Hamilton, OReilly and Lloyd buildings house many of Trinitys science and technology laboratories and complement the recently completed Dental Hospital. The Samuel Beckett Theatre is located towards the north of the campus and the Douglas Hyde Art Gallery to the south. The construction of the countrys first purpose-built building for a nanoscience research institute has just been completed which houses Irelands first Science Gallery. This new building also includes a state-of-the-art sports complex.

Trinity College launched its new Strategic Plan Update 2006 last year. The strategy is reflective of national policy and the objective of doubling the number of PhDs across all disciplines by 2013 in order to move towards a knowledge society. In order to achieve this, the College has received some of the largest allocations of Irish Government funding which have become competitively available to date. Trinity College has also embarked on a major fundraising campaign to fund the implementation of this Plan.

Trinity continues to attract intellectually strong students from Ireland and abroad. More than half of its incoming undergraduates have earned in excess of 500 out of a maximum 600 points in the national Leaving Certificate examination or the equivalent. The accessibility of a Trinity education to all students of ability is also very important. Trinity College was the first university in Ireland to reserve 15% of first year undergraduate places for students from non-traditional learning groups students with a disability, socio-economically disadvantaged students as well as mature students. The College has met its target in this respect. There is also an exciting international mix of its student body where 16% of students are from outside Ireland and 40% of these students are from outside the European Union. TCD students also have an opportunity to study abroad in other leading European universities through Trinitys partnership agreements.

People?
Many of Trinity College Dublins alumni have helped shape the history of Ireland and Western Europe. Two of Trinity Colleges alumni have won Nobel prizes Ernest Walton for physics in 1951 and Samuel Beckett for literature in 1968. The first president of Ireland, Douglas Hyde was a graduate as was the first female president of Ireland, Mary Robinson. Other notable alumni include authors, Jonathan Swift and Oliver Goldsmith; philosopher, George Berkeley; political philosopher, Edmund Burke; wit and dramatist, Oscar Wilde; historian, William Lecky; religious scholar, James Ussher; scientists, John Joly, George Johnstone Stoney and William Rowan Hamilton; and physicians, William Stokes and Denis Burkitt.

What do students say?
Postgraduate student, Haiyan Wang, from the Shandong Province in China completed a Masters degree in Economics and is currently doing a PhD also in Economics at Trinity College Dublin. Haiyan chose TCD because it is Irelands premier university and enjoys an international reputation for its high quality of teaching and competitive research strength, attracting students from all over the world. I am confident that the internationally recognised education which I received at Trinity College Dublin will enable me to pursue my career both in Ireland and worldwide, said Haiyan. She also found the College academic staff very supportive and accessible throughout her studies and enjoyed the friendly atmosphere in the department where she studied.

Faculty

Number of International Faculty Staff	Headcount: 622 FTE: 652
Number of academic faculty staff who are of foreign nationality. The term �international� is hereby determined by citizenship. For EU countries, this includes all foreign nationals, even if from another EU state. In Hong Kong, this includes professors from Mainland China. Inclusion and exclusion mirrors those for academic faculty staff.
Number of Faculty Staff	Headcount: 1,552 FTE: 1,402
Total number of academic faculty staff who are responsible for planning, directing and undertaking teaching only, research only or both teaching and research. Please include: vice-chancellors, deputy vice-chancellors, principals, professors, heads of school, associate professors, principal lecturers and tutors. Please exclude research assistants, PhD students who contribute to teaching, and exchange scholars or visiting professors who are members of another university. FAQ: How is research assistant defined?
Number of Inbound Visiting Faculty Staff	Headcount: 166 FTE: 166
Number of academic faculty staff contributing to teaching or research at your university in the last 12 months who are visiting from an overseas institution for a minimum period of at least 3 months.

Undergraduate Information

Number of Undergraduate Students	Headcount: 9,986 FTE: 9,852
Number of students pursuing a Bachelor�s level or equivalent degree. This excludes certificates/diplomas and associate�s degrees.
Number of International Undergraduate Students	Headcount: 1,406 FTE: 1,381
Number of undergraduate students who are foreign nationals. The term �international� is hereby determined by citizenship. For EU countries, this includes all foreign nationals, even nationals of other EU states. In Hong Kong, this includes students from Mainland China. Please exclude all exchange students.
Number of Inbound Exchange Undergraduate Students	Headcount: 458 FTE: 385
Number of undergraduate students attending your university on international exchange programs for at least 1 semester in the last 12 months.
Number of Outbound Exchange Undergraduate Students	Headcount: 214 FTE: 214
Number of undergraduate students registered at your institution who have attended another institution abroad for at least 1 semester on an exchange program in the last 12 months.
Average International Undergraduate Fees	€ EUR 12,315
Average tuition fees per academic year (two semesters) that an international student would be expected to pay for an undergraduate program, with �program� referring to the complete range of courses contributing to a degree. FAQ: How do I calculate average fees?
Average Domestic Undergraduate Fees	€ EUR 6,121
Average tuition fees per academic year (two semesters) that a domestic student would be expected to pay for an undergraduate program, with �program� referring to the complete range of courses contributing to a degree. FAQ: How do I calculate average fees?

Graduate / Postgraduate Information

Number of Graduate / Postgraduate Students	Headcount: 3,322 FTE: 2,831
Students pursuing a higher-level degree (Master and Doctorate), including both taught and research postgraduates (e.g. PhD students)
Number of International Graduate Students	Headcount: 896 FTE: 842
Number of graduate / postgraduate students who are foreign nationals. The term �international� is hereby determined by citizenship. For EU countries, this includes all foreign nationals, even nationals of other EU states. In Hong Kong, this includes students from Mainland China.
Average International Graduate / Postgraduate Fees	€ EUR 9,225
Average tuition fees per academic year (two semesters) that an international student would be expected to pay for a graduate / postgraduate program, with �program� referring to the complete range of courses contributing to a degree. FAQ: How do I calculate average fees?
Average Domestic Graduate / Postgraduate Fees	€ EUR 5,267
Average tuition fees per academic year (two semesters) that a domestic student would be expected to pay for a graduate / postgraduate program, with �program� referring to the complete range of courses contributing to a degree. FAQ: How do I calculate average fees?
Average Taught Graduate / Postgraduate Class Size	14
The average size of class across all taught graduate / postgraduate programs. The term �class� refers to an unit of instruction or taught session in which a teacher has pre-defined material to cover. It does exclude tutorial seminars.

Students

Total Students	Headcount: 13,308 FTE: 12,683
Total number of students.
Total International Students	Headcount: 2,302 FTE: 2,223
Number of students who are foreign nationals. The term �international� is hereby determined by citizenship. For EU countries, this includes all foreign nationals, even nationals of other EU states. In Hong Kong, this includes students from Mainland China.
Average International Student Fees	€ EUR 10,770
Average tuition fees per year that an international student would be expected to pay for any course
Average Domestic Student Fees	€ EUR 5,694
Average tuition fees per academic year (two semesters) that a domestic student would be expected to pay for any program, with �program� referring to the complete range of courses contributing to a degree. FAQ: How do I calculate average fees?

Graduate Output

Proportion of Graduates Pursuing Further Study	21%
Proportion of graduates from undergraduate programs pursuing further study at your own institution or any other.
Proportion of Graduates Employed	72%
Proportion of graduates (excluding those opting to pursue further study) in permanent employment within 6 months of graduation
Number of PhDs Awarded	248
Total number of PhDs awarded in the last 12 months

Entry Requirements

Avg Entry Requirements	3
Please express the average academic achievement entry requirements for your institution. Please convert your domestic requirements to the US Grade Point Average system. The five-point numerical scale is typically correlated with the A-F/A-E quality index. (A=4.0, B=3.0, C=2.0, D=1.0, E or F = 0.0) In our context, a value of 0 will imply to us that your institution has an "open access" admissions policy and will in no way count against your institution in any future table built upon this data. You can use World Education Services (WES) Toolkit as guidline: http://www.wes.org/gradeconversionguide/index.asp (copy and paste)

Research Productivity & Quality

Number of Papers	14,950
Total number of papers published in ESI indexed journals in the past 5 years
Number of Citations	72,409
Total number of citations for papers published in ESI indexed journals in the past 5 years