DCU ranked among ‘top 50 under 50’ universities

Dublin City University has been ranked amongst the top 50 universities in the world established less than 50 years ago.

This is the third year running that DCU has landed in the "Top 50 under 50" league table produced by QS University Rankings.

DCU came in at number 44 for the current academic year. Last year it managed 40th and the 2011-12 academic year saw the university ranked at 46th.

The two other Irish universities in the under 50 years old category include NUI Maynooth and the University of Limerick.

Neither of these featured in the QS list.

Universities on the list are assessed for the quality of their research, the employability of the institution’s graduates and the intuition’s international engagement.

It was “critical” that Irish universities be included in such ranking tables as they assist in sustaining the higher education sector here, said DCU president Prof Brian MacCraith.

Strong rankings help attract top students and academics from abroad, establish links with other institutions around the world and develop international partnerships, he said.

“While funding models for higher education remain uncertain into the future, it is imperative that we look to maximise and leverage the international reputation of Irish higher education,” he said.

While there has long been a university at Maynooth it became a National University of Ireland institution in 1997 under the Universities Act.

This would allow it to be considered by QS, a spokeswoman there said. NUI Maynooth was ranked 74th in the Times Higher rankings for the top 100 universities under 50 years of age, she added.

Six of the top 10 universities in the QS rankings are based in Asia and three of these are based in Hong Kong. Three more are in Europe and there is one from the US. The list includes;

Hong Kong University of Science And Technology, Hong Kong

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

KAIST, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea

City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Pohang University of Science and Technology, South Korea

Maastricht University, the Netherlands

University of California, Irvine, USA

Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, Spain

University of Antwerp, the Netherlands

For further information on the QS Top 50 Under 50 Rankings, visit http://topuniversities.com/top-50-under-50