NUI Maynooth has been named the 2008 Irish University of the Year in The Sunday Times University Guide 2008, published with the newspaper on Sunday.

Ireland’s smallest but fastest growing university saw off competition from University College Dublin which came second.

The Co Kildare university won the award after rising to fourth place in the newspaper’s annual league table of Irish third-level institutions which is published this weekend.

For the past four years NUI Maynooth has been ranked seventh in The Sunday Times university league table.

Maynooth has become the top institution in the republic for research income won per academic and has the best graduate employment record of any Irish university at almost 100 per cent. It is working with over 50 multinational companies on research projects.

The Sunday Times University of the Year award is made on league table positions but also on the institution’s contribution on a local, national and international level. NUI Maynooth was judged to have an excellent record in all these areas.

Ian Coxon, Editor of The Sunday Times University Guide, said: "NUI Maynooth is now one of the top four universities in Ireland and is making an impressive global impact through its teaching partnership with the computer chip manufacturer Intel."

The university last week began delivering a master’s degree to engineers around the globe working for Intel and is bidding for other projects with Beijing University.

Ian Coxon said: "Maynooth's excellent results on research funding and graduate employment plus its impeccable record on encouraging access to groups normally excluded from third-level education are three of the key factors that have led us to vote it The Sunday Times University of the Year for 2008.”

The university has doubled its numbers to 8,400 since splitting 11 years ago from the 213-year-old pontifical university which shares the same campus. The calibre of students Maynooth attracts and its applications for degree courses have been rising steadily in recent years.

The 64-page Sunday Times University Guide, now in its seventh year, is published free with the paper on Sunday, September 28. It is one of the most widely read university guides in the world.

Professor Ferdinand von Prondzynski, president of Dublin City University, praised The Sunday Times University Guide as: “Everything you need to know about higher education.”

While Maynooth is one of the smallest universities in Ireland, the runner-up for Sunday Times University of the Year is the republic’s largest, University College Dublin. UCD consistently attracts high-calibre entrants to its flexible system of degree courses and has an excellent record for graduate employment.

A strong performance across all key indicators, lifting it to 11th place in the Sunday Times league table, won Limerick Institute of Technology the accolade of The Sunday Times Institute of Technology of the Year for 2008.

Institute of Technology, Blanchardstown, is the runner-up for The Sunday Times Institute of Technology of the Year award. IT, Blanchardstown is acting as a catalyst to boost the skills of the population of the west Dublin and Meath area through the development of innovative courses linked to the needs of local industry. Celebrating its 10th anniversary next year, Blanchardstown awarded the republic’s second highest number of firsts and 2.1s last year, 68%.

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