Ollscoil na Gaillimhe | |
 | |
Former names |
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|---|---|
| Motto | Deo Favente |
Motto in English | With the favour of God |
| Type | Public |
| Established | 30 December 1845; 179 years ago (1845-12-30) |
| Budget | €360 million (2022)[1] |
| President | David J. Burn[2] |
| Chair of Údarás na hOllscoile | Máire Geoghegan-Quinn |
Academic staff | 1,587 |
Total staff | 2,650 |
| Students | 19,335 (2023/24)[3] |
| Undergraduates | 14,405 (2023/24) |
| Postgraduates | 4,930 (2023/24) |
| Address | University Road ,,H91 TK33 ,Ireland 53°16′44″N9°03′36″W / 53.279°N 9.060°W /53.279; -9.060 |
| Campus | Urban, 105 hectares (260 acres) |
| Language | English Irish[4] |
| Colours | Scarf colours: two halves of black and white, the white half divided in two by a narrow red stripe |
| Affiliations | |
| Website | universityofgalway ollscoilnagaillimhe |
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TheUniversity of Galway (Irish:Ollscoil na Gaillimhe) is apublicresearch university located in the city ofGalway,Ireland.
The university was founded in 1845 asQueen's College, Galway. It was known as "University College, Galway" (UCG) (Irish:Coláiste na hOllscoile, Gaillimh) from 1908 to 1997 and as "National University of Ireland Galway" (NUI Galway) (Irish:Ollscoil na hÉireann Gaillimh; OÉ Gaillimh) from 1997 to 2022. In September 2022, it changed its name to "Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway".[5]
The University of Galway is a member of theCoimbra Group, a network of 40 long-established European universities.
The university was established in 1845 as Queen's College, Galway, together withQueen's College, Cork, andQueen's College, Belfast. It opened for teaching on 30 October 1849 with 68 students.[6] In 1850, it became part of theQueen's University of Ireland, and its degrees were conferred in the name of that university.[7]
Located close to the city centre, the university campus stretches along theRiver Corrib. The oldest part of the university, the Quadrangle with itsAula Maxima, was designed by John Benjamin Keane in a Tudor Gothic architectural style and was constructed from local limestone; it is a replica ofChrist Church, one of the colleges at theUniversity of Oxford.[8]
The Queen's University was dissolved on 3 February 1882 under the University Education (Ireland) Act 1879, and was replaced by theRoyal University of Ireland (RUI), which had been established on 27 April 1880.[9][10]
Under theIrish Universities Act 1908, the RUI was dissolved and was replaced by theNational University of Ireland (NUI) andQueen's University of Belfast (QUB). The name of Queen's College, Galway, was changed to University College, Galway (UCG), and it became aconstituent college of the new National University of Ireland, together withUniversity College Dublin (UCD), andUniversity College Cork (UCC). Queen's College, Belfast, became an independent university, called the Queen's University of Belfast.[11][6] University College, Galway (UCG), was given special statutory responsibility under the University College Galway Act 1929 with respect of the use of theIrish language as a working language of the university.[12]
Members of theFranciscan Order from St. Anthony's College would have studied for degrees in UCG,[13] similarly members of theSociety of African Missions at their House of Philosophy, at Cloughballymore, Kilcolgan, Co Galway, studied for degrees in UCG. St. Anthony's is now used by the economics department.
Several new buildings were constructed on the university campus in the 1970s and were designed by architectsScott Tallon Walker. The 1990s also saw considerable development, including the conversion of an old munitions factory into a student centre. Under the early 21st-century Presidency ofIognáid G. Ó Muircheartaigh, the university announced details of plans to make the university a "campus of the future" at a cost of around €400 million.[14] Ó Muircheartaigh's successorJames J. Browne continued and implemented that plan.[15]
Under the Universities Act 1997, the name of University College, Galway, was changed to National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI Galway), and it became a university in its own right, as a constituent university of the National University of Ireland (NUI).[16][6] The university had hoped to change its name to University of Galway, but had received legal advice that this was not possible under the provisions of the Act.[17][18]
Visiting the university in 2003, on what was to be his last visit to Ireland,Nelson Mandela condemned U.S. foreign policy and received an honorary doctorate from the NUI Chancellor,Garret FitzGerald.[19][20]
21st-century developments include a state-of-the-art University Sports Centre (Ionad Spóirt), Áras Moyola, J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics, the Alice Perry Engineering Building, the BioSciences Research Building, the Life Course Institute, the Lambe Institute and the O'Donoghue Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance, and the Human Biology Building.[21]
In 2014, theEquality Tribunal ruled in favor of Dr Micheline Sheehy Skeffington, granddaughter of the famous Irish feminist coupleHannah Sheehy Skeffington andFrancis Sheehy Skeffington, who claimed she had been discriminated against on the grounds of gender during 2009. The university "unreservedly" accepted the decision that the "hiring process was flawed".[22][23] In 2015 with "widespread concern" among staff, mandatoryunconscious bias training was introduced for senior staff, including heads of school and interview boards.[24] In 2017 Dr Elizabeth Tilley was deemed to have exceeded qualifications for senior lectureship following aLabour Court hearing and promoted.[25] In 2017, the gender ratio of senior lecturers in the university was 60:40 in favour of men. The ratio of professorships, the most senior academic grade, was 87:13 in favor of men.[26] In 2018 the university achieved bronze status[27] in theAthena SWAN[28] recognises a commitment to advancing gender equality in higher education and research careers. In 2018 a further four female lecturers who had also applied for promotion in 2009 were promoted having settled their cases "amicably".[29][30]
The university launched its Strategic Plan "Shared Vision, Shaped By Values" (for the period 2020–2025) in 2020. Also in 2020, the university was awarded €4 million from the EU's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme to support its Solar2chem project.[31]
In April 2022, it was announced that NUI Galway would be renamed "Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway" in summer 2022, amid confusion over its proper title.[32] On 1 September 2022, the university changed its name to the "University of Galway".[5] This change took legal effect in February 2024.[33]
Under the University College Galway Act, 1929 (which came into effect on 17 December 1929), the university was given special statutory responsibility with respect of the use of theIrish language as a working language of the university.[12]
The Act of 1929 provided that when recruiting a person to work for the university, a person competent in the Irish language must be appointed to the position unless no such person with the necessary competence to carry out the role could be found among the candidates for the position. As a result, every president appointed to the university thereafter was fluent in Irish. The university's governing authority complained that this requirement limited the pool of potential candidates for the office of president (in particular, candidates from overseas). As a result, the Act was amended in 2006 to replace the requirement for fluency in the Irish language amongst staff and management with a commitment to provide for education through the Irish language. In 2016, the university amended its recruitment criteria to allow for the possibility of a non-Irish-speaking president.[34]
In August 2025, a non-Irish-speaking president was appointed to the university for the first time since the appointment of Alexander Anderson in 1899.[35]
Up until 2007, the university was divided into seven faculties (Arts, Celtic Studies, Commerce, Law, Medicine and Health Sciences, and Science), which were further subdivided into some 69 departments.[36] In 2007–2008, the university transitioned from the faculties and departments structure to a structure of five colleges divided into various schools.[37]
The following are the current colleges and schools of the university:[38]
Since 2015 theShannon College of Hotel Management has been fully incorporated into the university — becoming part of the College of Business, Public Policy & Law at Galway — formally marked by the thenMinister for Education and SkillsJan O'Sullivan at an event held in Shannon College on 9 November 2015. All staff of Shannon College of Hotel Management became staff of the university and all students of Shannon College of Hotel Management became students of the university.[39][40]
There are five designated Research Institutes and a number of Research Centres and Units at the University of Galway. Designated Research Institutes at the university are characterised by significant interdisciplinary (generally cross-College) and high-quality research activity, including extensive collaboration nationally and internationally.[41]Examples of mould-breaking research include sugar coating devices[42] and how spider bites can lead to hospitalisation.[43]
Galway University Foundation (GUF) was established in 1998 with the intention of generating financial support for the university from private individuals and institutions. It nurtures relationships with donors for whom the university's approach to education appeals. The Foundation has many 'Priority Projects' in development.[44]
The main library building of the University of Galway is named theJames Hardiman Library after the library's first librarian,James Hardiman.[45][46]
University of Galway has about 150 activestudent societies, ranging from the academic to artistic and performing, lifestyle and wellbeing, religious and political, social action and volunteering, social and cultural, and special interest.[47]
The oldest society on the campus is theLiterary and Debating Society, founded in 1846.[48] The university's drama society, Dramsoc, was founded in 1914 after the earliest recorded student production in 1904 demonstrated the need for a student-run drama society.[49] Cumann Staire is one of Europe's oldesthistory societies, and is a member of Comhaltas na gCumann Staire and theInternational Students of History Association.[50] The university'sFianna Fáil branch, Cumann de Barra, was founded in 1954, making it the oldest university political party branch in Ireland.[51]Fine Gael's youth wing was founded in the university in 1973 during theLiam Cosgrave-led Fine Gael/Labour Coalition government, withEnda Kenny andMadeleine Taylor-Quinn among those behind its establishment there.[52]Official Sinn Féin were also influential in campus politics in the 1970s, and Students Union PresidentsEamon Gilmore and Johnny Curran were party members.[53][54] CompSoc (the university's computer society) is the oldest of its kind in the country, established in 1977.[55][56][57]
Most of Ireland's main political parties have active societies at the university includingFianna Fáil,Fine Gael,Green,Labour,People Before Profit,Sinn Féin and theSocial Democrats.[58]
Flirt FM is a community radio station located on campus, spearheaded by the Radio Society.Sin Newspaper is the student-run news outlet of the university.
GUMS, the university musical society, hosts annual musicals in the Dubhlann/Black Box Theatre.[59]
In 2014, the Christian and LGBT societies were involved in a showdown oversame-sex marriage.[60] The incident was provoked by the auditor of the Christian Society, running for the position of Equality Officer in that year's student union election.[61] Earlier, in the late part of 2013, the university suspended the Legion of Mary Society after it failed to satisfactorily explain its connection to posters containing information on a Christian support group for homosexual persons.[62]
An Cumann Gaelach and An Cumann Drámaíochta are the university's mainIrish language societies, following the demise of the Cumann Craic.[63]
University of Galway has more than 40 sports clubs based on campus, ranging from indoor sports (such asarchery,badminton,fencing,weightlifting,table tennis, andsquash), to water sports (such asrowing,kayaking,sailing,windsurfing, andscuba diving), as well asmartial arts (such asjudo,karate,aikido,Muay Thai,kendo, andtaekwondo), plusequestrian,triathlon, athletics, and snow sports.[64]
The university also competes in the most popular Irish field sports ofassociation football,Gaelic football,hurling, andrugby union, as well ascricket,hockey, andlacrosse.[64]
University of Galway GAA compete in theSigerson Cup (Gaelic football) and theFitzgibbon Cup (hurling). They are the second most prolific winners of the Sigerson Cup.[65]
University of Galway RFC compete in theConnacht Senior Cup, and are the competition's most successful side with 34 wins.
University of Galway F.C. compete in theGalway & District League, the Colleges and Universities Football League (CUFL),Collingwood Cup and Harding Cup (Freshers).[66] They previously competed in theConnacht Senior League under their former name of NUI Galway F.C. and won the competition in 1990, as UCG.[67]
The campus is home to a wide range of sport facilities. Facilities include Dangan Sportsground, where the university's GAA teams compete, and the Kingfisher, whereMoycullen Basketball Club play their games.
In 2013, the university announced it would sponsorConnacht Rugby, the nearby professional Pro12 (nowURC) rugby union team, for the following three years and would put in place a "High Performance Education Partnership" that would give players from theConnacht Rugby Academy and age-grade teams the chance to educated there. At the time of the announcement 17 members of Connacht's squad were either attending the university as students or were graduates.[68]
Within a few years of the start of the university's sponsorship of the Connacht Rugby Academy, the team had won, what was then the2015–16 Pro12 title, for the first time by defeatingLeinster in the2016 Pro12 Grand Final. Seven players from the Connacht Rugby Academy played 55 times for their team during that campaign, with others in that squad also graduates of the Connacht Rugby Academy.[69]
The deal was renewed in 2017, covering the period until 2019.[70]
The Students' Union's primary role is to provide a recognised representative channel between undergraduates and the university and college authorities.
In February 2009, the university announced the Students' Union-runRAG Week would "no longer form part of the university calendar". The President of the Students' Union expressed the belief that the decision was unjustified, citing the more than €20,000 raised for charities that year.[71] RAG Week continued unofficially until 2024, when the fundraising event returned with support from the Students' Union.[72]
International students make up over 12 percent of the student population at the University of Galway.[73]
| Name of President | Years |
|---|---|
| Joseph W. Kirwan | 1845–1849 |
| Edward Berwick[74] | 1849–1877 |
| Thomas William Moffett[75] | 1877–1897 |
| W.J.M. Starkie | 1897–1899 |
| Alexander Anderson[76] | 1899–1934 |
| John Hynes[77] | 1934–1945 |
| Pádraig de Brún[78] | 1945–1959 |
| Martin J. Newell[79] | 1960–1975 |
| Michael Duignan (interim)[79] | 1975 |
| Colm Ó hEocha[80] | 1975–1996 |
| Patrick F. Fottrell[81] | 1996–2000 |
| Iognáid G. Ó Muircheartaigh[82] | 2000–2008 |
| James J. Browne[83] | 2008–2018 |
| Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh[84] | 2018–2024 |
| Peter McHugh (interim)[85] | 2024–2025 |
| David J. Burn[86] | 2025–present |
University of Galway is the setting for, and is referred to in, numerous works of fiction.
Breandán Ó hEithir's novelLig Sinn i gCathú, set in a thinly disguised Galway and telling the story of student life over four days in April 1949, has featured on the secondary schoolLeaving Certificate syllabus.
Tom Curtin's novelMelting Pot: An Irish Odyssey tells the story of three lads from University College Galway who leave Ireland for New York in 1969.[100]
The university has also faced the legal consequences of gender inequality after a number of female lecturers starting proceedings against the university as gender as a grounds of discrimination is prohibited by Irish law.[101][102]
The University of Galway houses an extensive collection of artworks, featuring a wide range of works and collections since 1845.[103]
| University rankings | |
|---|---|
| Global – Overall | |
| ARWU World[104] | 501–600 (2023) |
| QS World[105] | 284 (2026) |
| THE World[106] | 301–350 (2024) |
University of Galway has been awarded thefull five QS stars for excellence,[107] and is ranked among the top 1 per cent of universities according to the 2018QS World University Rankings.[108][109] These rankings marked the sixth consecutive year that the university's ranking improved by these standards.[108]
In 2016 and 2017, the university was ranked ahead ofUniversity College Dublin (UCD) andQueen's University Belfast (QUB) in theAcademic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), placing it second among Irish universities — behind onlyTrinity College Dublin (TCD).[110][111] Likewise, in theTimes Higher Education World University Rankings, Galway was ranked ahead of UCD and behind only TCD.[112]
The Sunday Times University Guide has named the university as its "University of the Year" on three occasions. It won theTimes's inaugural title in 2002–2003. A second title followed in 2009–2010.[113] Galway won its third title in 2018.[114]
| QS World University Rankings | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Ranking | Arts & Humanities | Natural Sciences | Engineering & IT | Social Sciences | Life Sciences |
| 2005 | |||||
| 437 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2006 | |||||
| 437 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2007 | |||||
| 484 | 312 | 389 | 427 | 323 | 386 |
| 2008 | |||||
| 368 | — | — | — | — | 260 |
| 2009 | |||||
| 243 | 272 | — | — | — | 250 |
| 2010 | |||||
| 232 | 274 | 301-350 | 301-350 | 351-400 | 301-350 |
| 2011 | |||||
| 298 | 389 | 379 | 367 | — | 357 |
| 2012 | |||||
| 287 | 345 | 388 | — | — | 335 |
| 2013 | |||||
| 284 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2014 | |||||
| 280 | 344 | 352 | 298 | 326 | 258 |
| 2015 | |||||
| 271 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2016 | |||||
| 249 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2017 | |||||
| 243 | — | — | — | — | — |
NUIG, the second most prolific winners of the Sigerson Cup, advanced to their first final since 2003 when they held off a DIT comeback in heavy rain at St Loman's GAA grounds in Mullingar.
Developing partnerships with sports organisations, particularly at elite level, will be a key component of the strategy, with the success of Connacht Rugby in winning the Guinness Pro12 title in May - the province's first trophy in its 131 year history - a good example of what can be achieved. NUI Galway is the main sponsor of the Connacht Rugby Academy, which has helped develop players for the professional game over the last few years. Seven players from the academy last season - Sean O'Brien, Peter Robb, Conor McKeon, Conan O'Donnell, James Connolly, Shane Delahunt and Rory Parata - played 55 times for Connacht during that historic Pro12 campaign, while several other members of the squad were academy graduates. Many of the academy players also study at NUI Galway, while there are a number of areas where the University and Connacht Rugby exchange expertise.
NUI Galway became Connacht's Academy and University partner in 2013, and since then 19 Connacht players have graduated, or are about to graduate, from NUI Galway including current senior squad members Denis Buckley, Eoin Griffin, Eoin McKeon, Andrew Browne, Dave Heffernan, Jack Carty, Darragh Leader, Eoghan Masterson, Seán O'Brien and Conor McKeon.
Other recent additions include ... NUI Galway ... awarded five stars overall ... received maximum five-star ratings in several key areas, including graduate employability, teaching, facilities and innovation.
... with an estimated 26,000 universities worldwide, this positions our University in the top 1% globally, according to QS.
NUI Galway has been named 'University of the Year 2018' in theSunday Times University Guide, securing the prestigious accolade for a third time, having won the inaugural title in 2002 and again in 2009... having the best job prospects of any other Irish university were among the reasons for the award.
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