University College Dublin - UCD (reviews)

The institution was founded in 1854 under educationalist John Henry Cardinal Newman and was then known as the Catholic University of Ireland. In 1908, the name was changed to UCD and today is an autonomous member of the National University of Ireland group, which holds the power to award degrees to students.

The university’s alumni is made up of many impressive figures, including former Ireland rugby captain Brian O’Driscoll, author Roddy Doyle, and actor Brendan Gleeson.

More than 30,000 students attend UCD at undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD levels, as well as those conducting research at the university. The student body is comprised of students from approximately 120 different countries, and 5,500 UCD students are based outside of Ireland.

The university is divided into the following colleges: Arts and Humanities, Business, Engineering and Architecture, Health and Agricultural Sciences, Science, and Social Sciences and Law. UCD’s main campus contains several state-of-the-art buildings and facilities such as the UCD Sutherland School of Law, the Student Centre, and the Lochlan Quinn School of Business.

As for research, UCD focuses mainly on the areas of ICT, health, agri-food, economy and society, culture, energy, and environment.

UCD is well known for its sporting prowess, in particular its soccer team. Students have a broad range of sports clubs from which to choose to get involved in. Other extracurricular activities such as societies covering many interests are at students’ disposal.

The university does offer limited student accommodation, however many students live in private rented accommodation after their first year. Dublin and its surrounding area is heavily populated and so students are recommended to organise their accommodation situation as early as possible.