PhD English, Drama & Film (Research)

UCD is Ireland's university of first choice, leading in first-preference applications in Ireland year after year. It is also the university of first choice for international students coming to Ireland: over 10,000 international students study on UCD’s main campuses. 

The UCD Horizons scheme of modern, modularised education based on learning outcomes sees 50% of students take modules outside their subject areas. 

UCD is the only Irish university to provide the EU Supplement Label to students for international recognition of qualifications and has consistently held the position of number one in Ireland in the QS Graduate Employability Rankings. This high rating of graduate employability is a testament to the strength of the UCD Alumni network – over 279,000 graduates in positions of influence in 165 countries all across the world.

With over 400 student exchange partnerships with leading higher education institutions around the world, UCD's extensive global study opportunities are taken up by students and staff across all disciplines. UCD is an active member of several leading university networks, including the networks Universitas 21, Erasmus, UNICA, and WUN.

To read more about undergraduate study at UCD, see: ww.ucd.ie/global 

UCD is Ireland's leader in graduate education with over 12,200 graduate students benefiting from the research-led education culture at UCD. UCD offers Ireland’s widest range of graduate study programmes across its six colleges and provides a vibrant and stimulating environment in which to learn, with research-led teaching from lecturers and professors who are recognised worldwide for their subject expertise.

In 2021/22 UCD researchers secured €156 million in research grants from national and international funding agencies, companies and foundations. Since 2012/13 UCD researchers have secured over €1 billion in such grants. Their research underpins national research and technology institutes and centres, including the SFI funded Insight Centre for Data Analytics, Food for Health Ireland, Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences (iCRAG), CeADAR Centre for Applied Data Analytics and Machine Intelligence, BiOrbic, Bioeconomy SFI Research Centre, and I-Form Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre.

UCD has had nationally-leading success in many of the most prestigious European awards, including European Research Council and Marie Sklodowska-Curie schemes.

Over the last decade UCD researchers have increased their annual number of papers in the international literature by 62% and have authored more than 36,000 papers in total. These papers are cited by other researchers at a rate that is 73% above the world average. In addition, 58% of the papers were co-authored with institutions in other countries/regions, underlining UCD’s role as Ireland’s global university.

UCD expertise is recognised worldwide, with international accreditations for UCD degrees from the world's leading professional organisations in Veterinary Medicine, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Regional and Urban Planning, and Engineering. The UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School is one of less than 60 schools worldwide to hold triple accreditation from the US, Europe and the UK accrediting bodies, and the MSc in International Management there is now regarded as the eigth in the world, according to the Financial Times Global Master in Management Ranking 2022.

In order to further expand its global engagement UCD has developed a network of UCD Global Centres in North America, UAE, India, China and Malaysia; each of which provides a hub of research and education connections for students, faculty, alumni and partners.

To read more about UCD graduate studies see: https://www.ucd.ie/global/