University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland.


University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) is a research university in Dublin, Ireland. It has over 1,482 faculty and 32,000 Students, and it is Ireland's largest university. The university originates in a body founded in 1854 with John Henry Newman as the first rector known as the Catholic University of Ireland, re-formed in 1880 and chartered in its own right in 1908. The Universities Act, 1997 renamed the constituent university as the "National University of Ireland, Dublin", and a ministerial order of 1998 renamed the institution as "University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin".

Originally located in locations across Dublin city, all of the university's faculties have since been relocated to a 133-hectare (330-acre) campus at Belfield, four kilometres to the south of the city centre.

University College Dublin is frequently ranked among the top universities in Europe. There are five Nobel Laureates amongst University College Dublin's alumni and current and former staff. The 2016 QS World University Rankings ranks UCD #176 worldwide, and puts it in the 151-200 bracket, for graduate employability.

A report published in May 2015 showed that the total economic output generated by UCD and its students in Ireland amounted to €1.3 billion annually.