Trinity College is Ranked Top Irish University in Sunday Times League Tables

BessBoy

Trinity College is Ranked Top Irish University in Sunday Times League Tables

Posted on: Sep 08, 2006

Trinity College has been ranked as the top Irish university for the fourth successive year in the Sunday Times University League Tables which will be published this weekend. Commenting on the College’s achievement, the Provost of Trinity College, Dr John Hegarty, said: “I’m delighted that Trinity College for the fourth year in a row has been ranked as Ireland’s premier university in the Sunday Times League Tables. The ranking reflects the high calibre of students the university continues to attract and the quality of courses and teaching it offers those students.” The Provost also congratulated UCD and UCC who were both ranked in equal second place as well as DCU which was ranked in fourth place.

Trinity College increased its lead in this year’s Sunday Times League Tables and scored highest in three of the six performance indicators, including the calibre of students which the institution attracts. The College attracts the best qualified students in the country with entrants averaging 79.5% last year across six Leaving Certificate subjects. It also scored highest in the number of firsts and 2.1s achieved by its graduates, as well as in key research areas. Trinity College’s research income per academic staff member is the highest in Ireland.

ApeXaviour

Rankings tend to be based on a lot of things you wouldn't expect. The Shanghai Jiao Tong World University rankings had us as in the 201-300 category, UCD in the 301-400 and UCC in the 401-500.

Moorsy

Yeh it will be interesting to see what our ranking is based on. I was out in the (student) bar in UCD last Thursday and was pretty impressed by the modern feel about it and how well it can accommodate bands and such.... wonder where trinity came in the socializing factor, if there is one.

I think there's an article in the Sunday business post about college being the dumping grounds for wealthy children or something should be interesting comparing the two.

ApeXaviour

Moorsy wrote:

Yeh it will be interesting to see what our ranking is based on. I was out in the (student) bar in UCD last Thursday and was pretty impressed by the modern feel about it and how well it can accommodate bands and such.... wonder where trinity came in the socializing factor, if there is one.

If anecdotal evidence is to be held into account then this board alone would have it rated very high. Having talked to DCU students, (while they love their university) they tend not often to say the same thing. The only problem I'd have with UCD is aesthetic really.

Moorsy wrote:

I think there's an article in the Sunday business post about college being the dumping grounds for wealthy children or something should be interesting comparing the two.

While there is no doubt that children from more affluent areas do tend to go to college more I really don't find it significantly divided. In my own personal experience, Irish students tend to come from a wide spectrum of socio-economic backgrounds.

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

BessBoy wrote:

Trinity College’s research income per academic staff member is the highest in Ireland.

surprising that UCC didn't rank highest on this - thought they had a huge research income in the sciences.

Stargal

That's weird, I thought DCU won this last year. I remember seeing big signs up all around DCU advertising the fact, could have sworn it was the Sunday Times league table.

I think DCU won 'University of the Year', while Trinity was ranked #1. At least in 2004-5 anyways: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8444-1266614,00.html

Right_Side

Myth wrote:

I think DCU won 'University of the Year', while Trinity was ranked #1. At least in 2004-5 anyways: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8444-1266614,00.html

This is correct. Similarly, UCD won it this year while Trinity was #1.

Am I correct in thinking Trinity has being ranked #1 every year in the history of this table and never got the award!?!

cobrophy

had a look at the criteria for the world ranking tables (which I would imagine is significantly different to the sunday times). Interesting to see what they used.

It firstly seems to be strongly biased towards the sciences (hence cambridge ranking 8 places over Oxford). Also I get the impression that the way it is structured also favours US universities where there is a much bigger emphasis on publication and where there are much larger quantities of money involved in terms of both funding and salaries.

But hey I'm off to the #26 university

NADA

Seriously. Who cares about rankings? At the end of the day they don't mean a whole lot?

Course not. But people like being told that they're great, or wish to be told that they're great.

ApeXaviour

NADA wrote:

Seriously. Who cares about rankings? At the end of the day they don't mean a whole lot?

Heggo's obsessed with them.

Tricity Bendix

Anyone know who was on top five years ago?

I thought the tables were a new fangled idea? The THES ranking came from the amount of publicity given to the Shanghai one?

analyse this

well rankings will obviously determine the credibility and recognition of the university internationally so yes i think rankings are very important, they force universities to reach their fullest potential.of couse finding a good ranking system is hard to come by, particularly in the international arena. the shang hai ranking system is very unreliable. it focuses mainly on the research aspect of the university and doesnt really take into account the quality of the students who leave the university!

xebec

analyse this wrote:

well rankings will obviously determine the credibility and recognition of the university internationally so yes i think rankings are very important

I'm in full agreement with analyse this on this point. In particular the fact that the credibility and recognition of the university you attend can have a big effect when applying for jobs outside of that country. So for example, Trinity is actually a very good university to have on your CV when applying for jobs in the States/UK etc. Obviously this doesn't affect the many students, but it is a valid point which one of the lecturers in the business school made this week. From my personal experience, Trinity is looked upon very highly by the companies (mainly UK) I have had contact with.

stakey

wahey! another thing for trinners to circle jerk too

Barry Aldwell

deconstruct wrote:

wahey! another thing for trinners to circle jerk too

Pfffft, you say that like we even need an excuse.....

stakey

lol, true