University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin

University College Dublin

Irish: An Coláiste Ollscoile, Baile Átha Cliath
Latin: Universitate Hiberniae Nationali apud Dublinum
Motto	Ad Astra (Latin)
Motto in English	To the stars
Type	Public university
Established	1854 (1854)
President	Andrew J. Deeks
Registrar	Mark Rogers
Academic staff	1,484 FTEs
Administrative staff	1,686 FTEs
Students	32,900 (2014/2015)
Undergraduates	16,388 (2013/2014) based on Irish campuses
Postgraduates	8,035 (2013/2014) based on Irish campuses
Location	Dublin, Ireland
Campus	Urban, 133 hectares (330 acres)
Colours
Affiliations	AMBA EUA NUI IUA Universitas 21 UI CESAER
Website	www.ucd.ie

Notable Alumni

James Joyce 1903, writer Brian O'Driscoll 2001, rugby player Gabriel Byrne, actor Neil Jordan, Oscar-winning film director and producer Seán MacBride, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize 1974 Peter Sutherland, first Director- General of the World Trade Organization

University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) (Irish: An Coláiste Ollscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a research university in Dublin, Ireland. It has over 1,482 faculty and 32,000 students, and it is Ireland's largest university. The university originates in a body founded in 1854 with John Henry Newman as the first rector known as the Catholic University of Ireland, 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 in locations across Dublin city, all of the university's faculties have since been relocated to a 133-hectare (330-acre) campus at Belfield, four kilometres to the south of the city centre.

University College Dublin is frequently ranked among the top universities in Europe. There are five Nobel Laureates amongst University College Dublin's alumni and current and former staff. The 2016 QS World University Rankings ranks UCD #176 worldwide, and puts it in the 151-200 bracket, for graduate employability.

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

The university can trace its history to the institution founded in 1854 as the Catholic University of Ireland, was established as UCD in 1880 under the auspices of the Royal University, and received its charter in 1908.

In the years following Catholic Emancipation in Ireland, a movement led by Paul Cullen, Archbishop of Armagh and, later, Archbishop of Dublin (and later created a Cardinal), attempted to provide for the first time in Ireland higher-level education that was both accessible to Irish Catholics and taught by fellow-Catholics. In the 19th century, the question of denominational education in Ireland was a contentious one. It had divided Daniel O'Connell and the Young Ireland Movement for many years. The Catholic Hierarchy wanted to counteract the "Godless Colleges" established in Galway, Belfast and Cork and to provide a Catholic alternative to Trinity College, Dublin. Trinity was Anglican in its origins and, though Catholics had studied there since the 1780s, Trinity had maintained a religious test that excluded them from membership of the college's governing bodies (see Denis Caulfield Heron). In 1850 at the Synod of Thurles it was decided to open a Catholic University.