Scholarships and grants valued at over €1 million were presented to 115 graduates and students of the National University of Ireland yesterday.
The awards were presented by the NUI chancellor Dr Maurice Manning, who described them as an investment in academic excellence.
"We are very confident that this investment will pay handsome dividends not just for the individuals concerned," Dr Manning added.
"There will also, we hope, be lasting benefits for Ireland, for our society, our culture and our economy.
He said he was particularly pleased that "for the first time we are awarding the NUI Dr Garret FitzGerald post-doctoral fellowships, in honour of our late great chancellor.
"As chancellor, Garret greatly enjoyed this ceremony as an endorsement of so much that he valued: intellectual challenge and rigour, and the opportunity to meet the brightest minds of the rising generation," Dr Manning said.
The awards included five NUI post-doctoral fellowships; the EJ Phelan fellowship in international law; the NUI travelling studentships and the Dr HH Stewart medical and literary scholarships.