Trinity is the highest ranked university in Ireland, and among the world's leading higher education institutions.
Founded in 1592, Trinity is at the nexus of tradition and innovation, offering undergraduate and postgraduate programmes across 24 schools and three faculties: arts, humanities, and social sciences; engineering, mathematics and science; and health sciences. Spread across 47 acres in Dublin's city centre, Trinity's 17,000-strong student body comes from all 32 counties of Ireland, and 16% of students come from outside the country. Of those, 40% are from outside the European Union, making Trinity's campus cosmopolitan and bustling, with a focus on diversity.
As Ireland's leading university, the pursuit of academic excellence through research and scholarship is at the heart of the Trinity education. Trinity is known for intellectual rigour, excellence, interdisciplinarity, and research-led teaching. Home to Nobel prize-winners scientist Ernest Walton and writer Samuel Beckett, Trinity draws visitors from across the world to its historic campus each year, including to the Book of Kells and Science Gallery which capture the university's connection to both old and new.
Trinity accounts for one-fifth of all spin-out companies from Irish higher education institutions, helping to turn Ireland into an innovation-intensive, high-productivity economy. That culture of innovation and entrepreneurship is a defining characteristic of our campus as we help shape the next generation of job creators.
Trinity has developed significant strength in a broad range of research areas, including the 21 broadly based multi-disciplinary thematic research areas. Ireland's first purpose-built nanoscience research institute, CRANN, houses 150 scientists, technicians and graduate students in specialised laboratory facilities. Meanwhile, the state-of-the-art Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute is carrying out breakthrough research in areas such as immunology, cancer and medical devices.
Trinity's Old Library, which houses the Long Room, is the largest research library in Ireland, with a collection of six million printed items, 500,000 maps, 80,000 electronic journals, and 350,000 electronic books. Some of the world's most famous scholars are graduates of Trinity, including writer Jonathan Swift, dramatist Oscar Wilde, philosopher George Berkeley, and political philosopher, and political theorist Edmund Burke. Three Trinity graduates have become Presidents of Ireland - Douglas Hyde, Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese.