University College Dublin is one of Europe's leading research-intensive universities and is ranked within the top 1% of higher education institutions world-wide. In the 2021 edition of the QS
World University Subject Rankings, UCD was named among the best universities
globally in the study of 38 subjects.

Its best performance was in Veterinary Science, which was
Ireland's highest-ranking programme in this year's listings. Also included in
top 50 were three other subject areas at UCD, namely Sports-related Subjects at
34th; Library & Information Management listed at 45th; and Petroleum
Engineering at 50th, the same position it held in last year's rankings. Alongside
this, the University had eight subject areas ranked in the QS top 100. These
were: Agriculture & Forestry, Archaeology, English Language &
Literature, History, Nursing, Law, Politics & International Studies, and
Philosophy.

Of the 38 academic disciplines from UCD that are in the 2021
subject rankings, 11% improved their positions in the ranking over last year's
list, and 34 appear in the top 200. 

In 2020, for the third year in a row, UCD was ranked number one in Ireland for graduate employability and 75th in the world, in the QS Graduate Employability Rankings. 

UCD is also Ireland's most globally engaged university with over 30,000 students drawn from 136 countries, including almost 4,000 students based at locations outside of Ireland. The University's main Dublin campus occupies an extensive parkland estate of more than 130 hectares and offers world-leading facilities including the UCD O'Brien Centre for Science, UCD Sutherland School of Law, UCD Lochlan Quinn School of Business, UCD Moore Centre for Business and UCD Student Centre. The campus offers students access to a thriving, English-speaking European capital city, which is among the safest in the world and is renowned for its welcome as much as it is for its vibrancy.

As Ireland's largest university, with its great strength and diversity of disciplines, UCD embraces its role to contribute to the flourishing of Ireland, Europe and the wider world. Built on the traditions of the past, we are a university of the future, connected and connecting, engaged and engaging, committed to a sustainable future built on a healthy biosphere. The University's Strategy 2020-2024 Rising to the Future outlines the objectives and major strategic initiatives set in place in order to accomplish UCD's mission and vision for this era.