No Irish universities in top 100

In a blow to the State’s international reputation in education, Ireland is not represented among the top 100 universities in the prestigious Times Higher Education Rankings.

The new rankings also show a dramatic fall in the ranking of University College Dublin (UCD) down from 159 to 187 - and only just holding on to a top 200 place.

The news is better for Trinity College Dublin (TCD) up from 117 to 110 - but the college’s failure to break back into the elite top 100 is still disappointing.

A striking feature of the new list is how NUI Galway has jumped to third place among Irish universities. It is ranked at 336, up over 30 places.

Phil Baty, editor of Times Higher Education rankings, said UCD’s performance must raise concern “with so many rising stars from other parts of the world, notably the BRIC economies, chasing a place in the prestigious top 200 list”.

Dr Hugh Brady, UCD president, said it was “very disappointing to see our ranking position fall this year... Economic factors here are part of the reason, but we must also recognise that investment by universities in other countries is raising the level of competition internationally.”

While welcoming TCD’s improved performance the provost, Dr Paddy Prendergast pointed out how a world class university requires “resourcing at internationally competitive levels... for Trinity to sustain its position and increase further worldwide requires adequate investment in the university sector.”

Both UCD and TCD - Ireland’s largest universities - have seen a dramatic fall in their world rankings over recent years. Six years ago, TCD was ranked inside the top 50 colleges worldwide, while UCD was comfortably inside the top 100.

The relatively poor performance of the two colleges this year was not unexpected. In common with all other Irish universities, both have been coping with a six per cent reduction in staff and a continuing funding crisis.

Inevitably, Ireland’s poor showing in the latest list will revive discussion about a possible UCD/TCD merger. Such a merger was backed by an international group of experts in a recent report for the Higher Education Authority.

The group - led by Frans Van Vught of the EU Commission- said a merger would help to propel an Irish university into the world’s elite and boost recruitment of foreign students. But Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn said the proposed merger was “neither feasible nor desirable. ’’

NUI Galway president Dr Jim Browne said the latest rankings represent very good news for the university. “We have experienced huge cuts in overall funding at third-level in Ireland, while student numbers have continued to rise. Despite this, our university has gone against the tide to secure a marked improvement in these very competitive rankings. This is a testament to our high standards in teaching and research, and the continued dedication of our staff at NUI Galway.”

Overall, the California Institute of Technology has retained its place at the top of the World University Rankings for 2012-13, with Harvard University pushed into fourth place by the UK’s University of Oxford and Stanford University, which share second place.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings use 13 separate performance indicators to examine a university’s strengths against all of its core missions – teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

Irish universities in Times Higher Education Rankings:

Trinity College Dublin 110 (117 in 2011)

University College Dublin 187 (159 in 2011)

NUI Galway 336 (367 in 2011)

University College Cork 345 (337 in 2011)

NUI Maynooth 399 (358 in 2011)

DCU and University of Limerick outside top 400.