Very respectable if not remarkable showing by the Irish Universities in the latest Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings for 2009.

Trinity is at 43 and UCD has broken into the top 100 at 89.

UCC - 207
NUIG - 243
DCU - 279

The list very skewed towards English speaking countries. Whether this is a bias or not I suppose is open to debate. Also not sure how it tallies with the quality of high level research when not one German University and only three Japanese Universities make the top 50. My fear is that Irish Universities might be a bit too preoccupied with their ranking, or at least more pre-occupied than others

QS World University Rankings 2009

College rankings place UCD in top 100 for first time - The Irish Times - Thu, Oct 08, 2009

This is very important and whatever we are doing we should keep doing it. The idea of cutting education at the moment is lunatic.

There is a HUGE amount of money wasted in our universities. Junkets, waste of money on inappropriate assets, empire building etc.. And a work ethic that would make our laziest politicians look like workaholics. Take a stroll through a University in July or August and marvel at the fact that thousands of people are being paid while nothing happens.

We need to make sure that the right people are insulated from cuts.

yes, a disgrace.

The educational calender in this country is stuck in the Stone age.

Dinosaurs evolved quicker.

I think you'll find that alot of activity happens in the summer months

Research
Recruitment for the upcoming academic year is finalised in August
CAO intakes are managed
Student registration is prepared,
Lecture timetabling
Lecture planning
Student accomodation planning
System upgrades
Graduations
etc


You may be generalising a wee bit...

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The early bird may get the worm - but the second mouse gets the cheese.

Yeah i agree with you, my university-Disability office made huge wastage of HEA disability funding with nothing useful just an extra lining in their pockets.

According to the University Presidents, one of the things we have been doing for years now is ... cutting!!

Here's one of their pronouncements from 2004.

STATE support for universities was cut in real terms by €1,240 per student between 1995 and 2001. The situation deteriorated further over the past two years with cutbacks of the order of 14.5pc, according to the Conference of Heads of Irish Universities (CHIU).

STATE support for universities was cut in real terms by €1,240 per student between 1995 and 2001.

The situation deteriorated further over the past two years with cutbacks of the order of 14.5pc, according to the Conference of Heads of Irish Universities (CHIU).

In a letter to Education Minister Mary Hanafin it says that the effect of the cutbacks is cumulative and if they are not reversed the full impact will hit home next year.

The CHIU says the cutbacks are being compounded by the continuing growth in student numbers....

"The universities simply cannot meet the cumulative costs of those increases in 2005 and maintain services," says CHIU chairman Prof Gerry Wrixon.

The Government's target is that Irish universities will be in the top 10pc in the world.

But Prof Wrixon's letter warns that this target cannot be reached without modern buildings and leading-edge facilities and equipment comparable with the best universities internationally.

To raise investment to the level of the top 10pc of OECD countries would require an overall increase of 48pc in overall funding of the higher education sector.


So much for Professor Wrixon's credentials as a prophet of doom!



.

This list is a measure of how universities attract foreign students, not how good the universities are. Does anyone really believe that the University of Pensilvania (They have a university?) is better than ETH Zurich, of Einstein fame?

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NAMA: Mortgaging our future to pay for the past.

What about Queen's? It's another big Irish university.

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[QUOTE=seabhcan;2176585]This list is a measure of how universities attract foreign students, not how good the universities are. [QUOTE]

Not sure where you got that from.

I ranked the list by population in a quick and dirty calculation ... just to see who was punching above their weight.

So in terms of top 200 institutions per head of population the country ranking looks like:

01. Switzerland
02. Hong Kong
New Zealand
03. Holland
04. Sweden
Denmark
05. Belgium
06. UK
07. Germany
Singapore
Norway
Israel
08. Ireland
09. Canada
10. Finland
11. USA
12. Austria
13. Germany
14. Greece
15. South Korea
16. France
17. Taiwan
18. Malaysia
19. Spain
20.. South Africa
21. Italy
22. Thiland
23. Russia
24. Mexico
25. Japan
26. China
27. India

Ireland is doing very well.

Some surprises to me:

Holland with a population of 16.5 million and 11 top flight institutions! Who knew?

Britain is more than holding it's own.

Scandanavians are very well represented.

USA is not nearly as impressive when looked at in population terms. If one were to allocate points to the rankings and work it out that way they could have a better showing however.

Some disappointments:

Italy and Spain. Very poor showings.

Germany surprised me. I thought it would have been higher.

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Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!