2016 Press Releases

UCC hailed for ‘world-class research’ in EU ranking

4 Apr 2016

University College Cork (UCC) scored top marks across the five core areas ranked in the world’s most comprehensive ranking system.

The EU sponsored U-Multirank published today (April 4) judges university performance on 31 indicators marked from ‘A’ (very good) to ‘E’ (weak). 

The areas ranked include Teaching, Research, Knowledge Transfer, International Orientation and Regional Engagement.  UCC received 14 ‘A’s and nine ‘B’s which resulted in the University being awarded 23 high scores out of a possible 28. 

Highlights of UCC’s performance in U-Multirank 2016 include Research, for whichUCC achieved ‘A’s for Citations Rate, External Research Income, Top Cited publications and Post-Doctoral Positions. 

UCC also scored highly in Knowledge Transfer where the University received ‘A’s for Patents Awarded, Publications Cited in Patents and Co-publications with Industrial Partners.  

The University’s success in knowledge transfer has been endorsed by the huge investment in the University’s research programmes. UCC participates in 11 of the 12 Research Centres set up by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) in 2013 in the largest joint state/industry research investment in Irish history. UCC leads four of these centres and co-leads the fifth.

In January 2016, UCC received almost 30% of the €28.8m funding for research infrastructure from the SFI; UCC researchers are leading or involved in eight of the 21 chosen projects.

UCC Vice President for Research and Innovation, Professor Anita Maguire attributed the University’s success to its “unique combination of world-leading researchers, internationally competitive research infrastructure, trans-disciplinary activity and extensive industrial partnership.”

On the International Orientation section of U-Multirank UCC scored ‘A’s in Student Mobility, the Number of International Academic Staff and International Joint Publications.  Again the U-Multirank bears out the findings of other Rankings such as the recent Times Higher Education list where UCC was ranked in the 200 most international universities worldwide.  

As of Autumn 2015 just above 16% of UCC students were international, spread across a range of categories including undergraduate, taught and research postgraduate, visiting students and exchange students.

“UCC’s appeal begins with its academic excellence, both in terms of ranking and employment prospects,” says Dr Christopher Brown, Director of the International Office. “Our historic campus, our competitive price point, and our welcoming community are key factors that help to encourage students to choose UCC.”

The University also scored two ‘A’s in Regional Engagement based on the numbers of graduates working in the region and Teaching.

UCC’s President, Dr Michael Murphy, said: “UCC’s staff and students should be delighted with this result for the University as it reflects our commitment to giving our students a great education and preparing them for the world in which they will live. It also highlights our world-class research, our strength in internationalisation and our close partnership with industry.”

The third annual edition of U-Multirank is the largest since its launch in 2014 featuring over 1,300 universities, from more than 90 countries, with more than 3,250 faculties and 10,700 study programmes. It includes over 27,000 performance scores at an institutional level alone and another 66,000 in 13 subject areas, many of which are included for the first time.

The University’s achievements in the U-Multirank follows other recent successes with UCC being named Sunday Times University of the Year 2016 and featured in the top tier globally for 14 subject areas in the recently published QS World University Rankings by Subject (2016), with Nursing and Midwifery listed in the top 50 worldwide.

 

ENDS 

University College Cork

Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh

College Road, Cork T12 K8AF

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