The UK’s higher education research institution QS recently released the 2025 World University Rankings, showing improvement in the rankings of five out of the eight Irish universities listed. The most notable performance comes from University College Dublin, which rose by 45 places in the rankings.
According to the rankings, Trinity College Dublin once again emerged as the best-performing higher education institution in Ireland, securing the 87th position. However, this marks a drop of 6 places compared to last year.
Despite this, Trinity College Dublin remains the only Irish higher education institution to make it into the global top 100 universities. It scored the highest in six out of the nine evaluation indicators by QS. However, the gap between Trinity College Dublin and the second-ranked University College Dublin is narrowing, with the latter climbing to 126th place, a significant improvement of 45 places from last year.
Apart from these two universities making it to the top 150 globally, the rankings for other Irish university institutions fall beyond the top 250. University College Cork and University of Galway saw a rise of 15 and 5 places respectively, now sharing the 273rd position.
Dublin City University, ranked 436th last year, and the University of Limerick, ranked 426th, also saw an improvement this year, sharing the 421st spot. Maynooth University and Technological University Dublin maintained their rankings from the previous year.
The QS World University Rankings, published by Quacquarelli Symonds in the UK, are considered one of the most prestigious university rankings. However, critics argue that global rankings may not accurately reflect the actual performance of universities, especially in crucial areas such as teaching and student learning.
This year marks the second time QS included indicators such as “employability,” “sustainability,” and “international research collaboration” to evaluate university performance. This signifies adjustments in the weights of the six original indicators including “academic reputation,” “faculty/student ratio,” “employer reputation,” “international students,” and “international faculty ratio.”
Irish universities generally excel in international student ratios, employability, and sustainability aspects. Ben Sowter, the Senior Vice President of QS, stated, “Since the assessment of sustainability performance was introduced last year, Irish universities have become leaders globally in ESG and SDG, with University College Dublin standing out the most.”
ESG and SDG are currently hot topics in the global climate movement. ESG involves considering a comprehensive investment in environmental, social, and governance factors of universities or research institutions, while SDG measures a university’s commitment to advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
University College Dublin ranks 50th globally in “sustainability,” being the only option where an Irish university enters the top 50 worldwide among the nine ranking categories.
However, Irish universities generally show weaker performances in faculty/student ratios and faculty citation rates. Some scholars attribute this to insufficient funding.
Dr. Linda Doyle, the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at Trinity College Dublin, expressed that due to the outstanding performance of staff and students, the university has been able to maintain its position in the global top 100 for three consecutive years. However, she hopes for increased investment in the higher education sector from the government.
A report submitted to the government in 2022 highlighted a funding gap of €307 million in universities due to stringent fiscal policies a decade ago. University associations have called for increased budgets to recruit more scholars and researchers. In the 2023 government budget, €40 million was allocated to the higher education sector.
Dr. Doyle noted in a press release that the €307 million funding gap has yet to be filled, and government investment in research only accounts for 1.1% of the Gross Domestic Product, far below the promised 2%.