University College Cork (UCC) is an internationally renowned university located in Cork, Ireland. It is a constituent college of the National University of Ireland and is also a member institution of the European University Association. Founded in 1849 as one of three Queen’s Colleges at Belfast, Galway and Cork, it became University College, Cork, under the Irish Universities Act of 1908. The site chosen for the new college was formerly that of a Franciscan friary on the banks of the River Lee. The college officially opened its doors to students on November 5th, 1849 with just 24 professors and 183 students.
Today UCC has over 20,000 students enrolled across more than 200 programmes offered by four main faculties: Arts & Humanities; Business; Science & Engineering; and Medicine & Health Sciences. In addition to these core faculties, UCC also has several research institutes and centres which contribute to its reputation as an internationally-renowned research institution. Notable alumni include Michael Collins (Irish revolutionary leader), Ernest Walton (Nobel laureate physicist) and Mary Robinson (former President of Ireland).
UCC has been ranked among the world’s best universities by various international rankings organizations such as Times Higher Education World University Rankings (2019), Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings (2019) and Academic Ranking of World Universities (2018). It is also consistently ranked as one of Ireland’s top universities in national league tables such as those compiled by The Sunday Times and The Irish Times.