The University of Limerick marked its 40th anniversary at the weekend with a ceremony honouring its “early pioneering students”: the class of 1972. Eighty members of the class were conferred with honorary master’s of philosophy degrees.
Speaking at the honorary conferring ceremony, the president of the university, Prof Don Barry, said that since its inception the university had helped to break the mould of third-level education in Ireland under the inspirational leadership of Ed Walsh.
The college had achieved many “firsts” over the past 40 years, he said, pioneering co-operative education in Ireland and developing the first medical school to be established in the State in more than 150 years.
Almost 65,000 students have graduated from the college in the past 40 years. The president said the college’s priority had always been to provide its students with an outstanding education and “demand for admission has shown how valuable a UL education is and how highly prized our graduates are in the workplace”.
Its graduates enjoy a 16 per cent advantage over those from other Irish universities in today’s competitive job market, he claimed.
The 40-year milestone will be marked with a series of events and initiatives involving staff, students, alumni and the many friends, supporters and members of the wider community who have been part of the UL story over the past four decades.