Ireland's youngest university comes of age

by Colm Murphy Sunday Times 12-SEP-04 - Posted 13-SEP-04

Earning €33m a year in research revenue, Dublin City is at the cutting edge of Ireland's economic revival, writes Colm Murphy THE SUNDAY TIMES UNIVERSITY OF THE YEAR: DUBLIN CITY Runner-up: NUI Maynooth INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY OF THE YEAR: GALWAY-MAYO IT Runner-up: Limerick IT

BASED ON LEAGUE TABLE POSITION: BEST UNIVERSITY: Trinity College Dublin BEST INSTITUTE: Dublin Institute of Technology

Dublin City University, with its outstanding record for attracting research funding, has won our Irish University of the Year award for 2004. Runner-up for the past two years for our prestigious award, DCU takes the top prize after moving up two places in our league table to second. The introduction of a new measurement of the research profile for all third-level institutions has helped propel DCU higher in our table. It attracts the most research per head of academic staff in Ireland. Our award is not determined solely on league table position, however. If it were, Trinity College Dublin would win almost every year as would Cambridge in England, as they consistently have the highest academically-rated intake. We assess a range of qualities, chiefly the academic calibre of entrants, exam results, research quality and the general robustness of the institution. The student experience and the university's role on regional, national and world stages are also assessed through questionnaires. In all these areas, DCU is among the top performers. The past 12 months have also seen the transformation of the north Dublin campus of the republic's youngest and second smallest university. A €25 m three-year investment programme has placed its extracurricular facilities on a par with its fine academic provision. Unusually the taxpayer only funded a third of the cost of this development. Most of it was financed through debt and by private donors such as the American dutyfree millionaire Chuck Feeney, Tim Mahony of Toyota and the Ryan family of Ryanair. The only entirely state-funded building was the republic's first purpose-built nursing building which opened in June. Leisure facilities include a new sauna, spa pool, a 25 m swimming pool and a "tepidarium", a warm room where they can relax surrounded by radiant heat and atmospheric lighting. This means that the university's 6,205 full-time and 963 part-time students will be able to relax in facilities usually found only in a five-star hotel. To round off the evening they can enjoy a top-name act in the campus's 1,260-seat Helix entertainment complex. They can then retire to one of the 1,000 places in halls of residence, half of which are new and en-suite. The more studious can pop into the university's new high-tech library which stays open until 10pm. Paul May, the student union president, says that these and other developments lay to rest the perception of the university being less fun than some others. This reputation was earned when it became one of the first Irish universities to hold twice yearly exams, provide work placements for all students and periods of study abroad. It is cosmopolitan with a good student mix, 6.6% being mature and 10.4% from overseas. Its access programme is the state's oldest and 10.73% enter without the standard Leaving Certificate results. Thirdlevel participation, however, in the area surrounding the university remains among the country's worst. About 150 of this year's 2,000 first-year entrants have come through the university's access programmes, fewer than Dublin City University's president Professor Ferdinand von Prondzynski would have liked. The university wants to do more to widen access, he says, but there is little state financial support for such initiatives. The university's embryonic days, first as Dublin's National Institute for Higher Education in 1975 and then a university in 1989, were difficult with mass unemployment, emigration and little funding available for education. Its raison d'etre was to help propel the economy into the 21st century by providing degrees and research in high-tech areas. Twenty-nine years and €200m later the campus is a hive of intellectual activity. Its six national research centres have captured global niches in high-tech research. These, along with its 12 smaller research centres, generate €33m a year in revenue. Many of its graduates are playing key roles in companies that have made Ireland one of the world's wealthiest countries and one of its biggest exporters of software. Today Dublin City's 309 academics attract on average €106,762 each in research funding. This is by far the highest ratio in the country and more than twice as much as University College Dublin, which is three times larger. Von Prondzynski says: 'The best researchers are the best teachers. They have much more enthusiasm if they are developing something entirely new in their discipline." This philosophy is reflected in results; 58% of Dublin City's students got a first or a 2:1 , second only to Trinity College and on a par with University College Dublin. Its record is especially notable as the academic calibre of its intake, based on Leaving Certificate results, is the second lowest of the republic's seven universities. DCU has introduced the highest number of new degree courses this year. These include innovative ones in international relations, physics and astronomy, genetics and cell biology. But with the campus having reached capacity, von Prondzynski, a Trinity-educated law professor, has announced that further expansion will take place off site. The Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurship, for example, will open next year in Citywest, a business park several miles from the campus. A similar transformation was one of the factors in NUI Maynooth being shortlisted for the award. The smallest of the seven universities, it moved up three places to equal seventh position, improving its performance across all categories. NUI Maynooth has introduced Ireland's first degrees in several multidisciplinary subjects in recent years. These include European studies and another that combines electronic engineering and business, which is aimed at those who want to enter the venture capital business. Its access programmes for mature and socially disadvantaged students are among the country's best. A strong academic performance and the improvements made to facilities at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology have won it our first Institute of Technology of the Year award. It has moved up two places to 14th in today's league table. With five campuses along the western seaboard, it is Ireland's most geographically dispersed thirdlevel institution. Behind the spectacular front of its main building overlooking Galway Bay are some of the country's best student facilities. Its campus in Castlebar, Co Mayo, houses some of the institute's business and humanities, science and nursing courses. An increasing number, 56%, of Galway-Mayo's degree students achieved a first or 2:1 last year. This is among the best performances of all third-level institutes in Ireland. Its completion rate has improved dramatically to well above average for the institute sector. The 32-year-old institution is expanding its course portfolio, pushing its student numbers close to 6,000. It had its first intake into two new degree courses this month: one in applied aquatic ecology and another in sustainable agriculture and environmental management. Limerick Institute of Technology was shortlisted for the award because of its improvement of facilities for students and the expansion of its research programmes. It has achieved one of the country's highest retention rates, 92%, from a poor base. It did this by implementing a programme whereby older students act as mentors for first-years. It also opened a student support centre to provide study skills training and extra tuition in maths and information technology.