About Us

University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) (Irish: Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest university, and amongst the most prestigious universities in Europe.  Five Nobel Laureates are among UCD's alumni and current and former staff. Additionally, four Taoisigh (Prime Ministers) and three Irish Presidents have graduated from UCD, along with one President of India.

UCD originates in a body founded in 1854, which opened as the Catholic University of Ireland on the feast of St. Malachy with John Henry Newman as its first rector; it 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 at St Stephen's Green and Earlsfort terrace in Dublin's city centre, all faculties later relocated to a 133-hectare (330-acre)campus at Belfield, six kilometres to the south of the city centre. In 1991, it purchased a second site in Blackrock, which currently houses the Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.

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