University College Cork (UCC), originally known as Queen's College Cork was founded by the provisions of an act which enabled Queen Victoria to endow three new colleges in Ireland. Our college opened in 1849 with 23 professors and 181 students. In 1908, the Irish Universities Act formed the National University of Ireland and the college was given the status of a university college as University College Cork. Engineering was initiated in 1905 which was mainly Civil Engineering. In 1914, the first degree course in mechanical and electrical engineering was set up at UCC. Later, additional degree programs were added in the disciplines of Process and Chemical Engineering, Architecture, and Energy Engineering.

The present School of Engineering commenced operations 1 May 2009 on the appointment of Dr. Michael Creed as the Head of School of Engineering. The School with four existing Engineering Departments and the Cork Centre for Architectural Education (CCAE) became the Engineering academic unit within the College of Science, Engineering, and Food Science (SEFS). The engineering departments were the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, the Department of Process & Chemical Engineering, and the Department of Microelectronic Engineering. In the summer of 2010, the Department of Microelectronic Engineering and the Department of Electrical & Electrical Engineering merged into a single Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, located in the Electrical Engineering Building. In June 2013, UCC Chair Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nabeel Riza was appointed by the President of UCC as the new Head of the School of Engineering. Starting September 2013, the School operational management structure was reorganized as one multi-disciplinary non-departmental unit using taught degree program directors, research centre directors, and committees (with committee chairs).

The School is a thriving community of 960, with 650 undergraduates and 212 post-graduates, all supported by a dedicated team of academic, research, administrative, and support staff totalling 98.

UCC engineering alumni have gone on to make professional contributions at leading research and corporate institutions around the globe. The list next is a sampling of some of our graduates.

• Cormac Conroy, PhD Univ. of California Berkeley, Vice-President, Engineering, Qualcomm, USA
• Deirdre O'Brien, PhD Stanford University, Analyst Google, CA.
• Stephen O'Driscoll, PhD Stanford Univ., Asst. Professor Univ. of California-Davis
• Mike Flynn, PhD Carnegie Mellon University, Associate Professor, University of Michigan
• Fergus Hurley, MS MIT, Founder/CEO Focal Laboratories, San Francisco
• Ger Hurley, MS MIT, IEEE Fellow, Professor National University of Ireland Galway
• Kaveh Hosseini, PhD, UCC, Postdoc Fellow California Institute of Technology, Cypress Semiconductor
• Ann Kelleher, BE, MEng, PhD, Vice President, Intel, Phoenix, USA.
• Mike McAuliffe, CEO Powervation, USA
• David Murphy, PhD Univ. of California, Los Angeles
• John Mullins, BS, MS UCC, MBA Univ. of California-Davis, CEO Bord Gáis, Ireland
• Olive Murphy, PhD UCC, Postdoc Fellow, Imperial College London
• Rory McInerney, BS, MS UCC, Exec. MBA, Stanford Univ., Vice President Intel, USA, 2009 UCC Distinguished Alumnus Award.
• John R. Scannell, BS, MS UCC, MBA Harvard, Vice President & Chief Financial Officer Moog Inc., New York
• Francis O'Sullivan, PhD MIT, Executive Director Energy Sustainability Challenge MIT
• Stephen Keeney, PhD, VP, Lam Research
• Leonard Hobbs, MEng, R&D Director, Intel Leixlip, Ireland
• John Ryan, MEng, VP Engineering, Powervation
• Finbarr Crispie, PhD, CEO, President S3C, Sunnyvale CA, USA
• Seamus Power, PhD, Director Engineering Services, Analog Devices
• Pat Lynch, BE, HR Director, ESB