He might not realise it, but Barack Obama has reason to be grateful to NUI Galway, the 2009 Sunday Times University of the Year.
The institution’s Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI) — which claims to be the largest of its kind in the world — is behind the internet technology that the Obama administration is using on its Recovery.gov website which allows site visitors to see where exactly their taxes are being spent.
DERI’s transatlantic customer is its most famous, but other high-profile clients, including the Yahoo! and SearchMonkey internet search engines, also use DERI technology to link online sites with web-based discussion groups.
Technological innovation and a €320m campus upgrade anchor NUI Galway firmly in the 21st century, but this is an institution with a long history, dating back to 1845.
The republic’s third largest university, NUI Galway has climbed one place in our league table this year to rank fourth and lifts our University of the Year award for the second time.
On several levels it compares with the best. No other university comes near to matching its 89% completion rate and, in a year which has seen graduate unemployment rise sharply, NUI Galway claims just 2% of leavers are still seeking work nine months later, with only NUI Maynooth and University College Dublin ahead of it.
Success in these two areas, in particular, leaves the university well placed to woo prospective students, who are likely to demand more from their third-level choices with the advent of tuition fees.
But it is in the commercialisation of its research that Galway shows a clean pair of heels to its rivals. Six companies have been created already this year to exploit its research and it has made 27 patent applications, more than any of the other Irish universities.
Outside of California, the university has helped create the world’s largest cluster of companies involved in the medical device industry. The industry is now Galway’s biggest employer, offering 12,000 well-paid jobs.
Such is the expertise built up in Galway that its inventions are revolutionising treatments internationally. For example, Dr Bruce Murphy of Galway’s National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Science, invented a tiny device containing microblades and a balloon that can cut through blockages in arteries. Each year, it could potentially help 500,000 people with renal disease and the 1,000 or so Irish people who annually face the possibility of amputations.
Investing heavily in this area was part of the university’s strategy, adopted at the same time it won the inaugural Sunday Times University of the Year award in 2002.
It is not only in commercial research that NUI Galway is doing well, however. The institute’s marine researchers discovered a coral reef off Ireland’s west coast in May and its human rights research centre is one of Europe’s largest.
NUI Galway’s president, Dr Jim Browne, who took over last year, says: “We want to be recognised as world-class in about seven key areas that reflect national priorities, and students will benefit from that. We also want to be embedded in our community and to be part of the success of the west of Ireland.”
Galway’s competitive research funding rose by a third last year from €48.4m to €64.4m, one of the highest increases in the Irish third-level sector. Research income was flat or fell in most other Irish universities.
As Ireland’s only bilingual campus, NUI Galway has introduced degrees such as public relations and translation through Irish to meet the demand of new legislation which requires public bodies to communicate bilingually.
Student life can be lively, making the news twice in the past year, once when scuffles broke out during protests over the reintroduction of fees as ministers visited the campus, and again during NUI Galway’s rag week when the alcohol-fuelled antics of a minority of revellers led to the events being scrapped and replaced by a more sedate college week.
Even when founded at the beginning of the Irish famine, Galway was controversial. There were calls for its inaugural president, the Rev Joseph Kirwan, to resign for heading a “godless” college of just 68 students in the gothic quadrangle. Today the 260-acre parkland campus on the banks of the River Corrib has 11,560 full-time and 3,783 part-time students.
Unlike most other universities there is plenty of room for expansion. Students can already relax with amenities usually found only in hotels as the €320m upgrade nears completion. A sauna, steam room, elite gym and 25-metre pool are included in the €22m sports centre opened last November. A new student centre, one of the country’s finest, now houses 40-plus clubs and societies.
Alongside doing community work, the clubs and societies form an important part of NUI Galway life. Donna Cummins, the students’ union president, says: “There’s a wonderful atmosphere on campus and it’s brimming with activity.”
The university offers academic credit points for work done in the community and all students are offered the chance to participate. Browne, who studied engineering in Galway in the 1970s, adds: “We try to get students involved in the community as well as engage them academically. We give them all an opportunity to fill their CVs with foreign exchanges, professional experience, clubs or societies.”
The low graduate unemployment rate can be attributed to the fact that Galway has upgraded its course offering over the past 10 years. For example, in its largest area, arts, many subjects have been added that are more closely linked to careers. These include choices in human rights and theatre. New combinations are being added to the existing undergraduate options. A unique degree in engineering innovation, which combines business skills with those in design and engineering, started this month, and aims to turn out budding innovators.
Many of the courses also have built-in employability skills. Browne says: “Communicating your ideas is just as important as the idea itself. We incorporate the teaching of writing and presentation skills, particularly in many of the engineering and business programmes.”
Galway will expand further, if necessary, says Browne, to achieve the government’s target of raising third-level participation from 56% to 73%. More than one-fifth of the intake do not have the traditional Leaving Certificate grades, testament to the success of Galway’s 12-year-old programme to encourage candidates from areas where third-level study is not a tradition. The institute has links with adult learning centres across regions that incorporate the border, the midlands and the west. With 3,500 participants, it has one of the most developed adult education programmes.
Despite this broader intake, its academic performance is improving, with 68% of last year’s graduates leaving with a first or 2:1, ranking it joint third with Trinity. Along with its sister institutions within the National University of Ireland in Dublin, Cork and Maynooth, Galway has deliberately increased the number of high-class degrees awarded after finding that these were marked too strictly in Ireland compared with other countries.
A leap in the number of top-class degrees, from 64% to 71%, helped University College Dublin come within a whisker of pipping Trinity to the top spot in our league table. The republic’s largest university, UCD is runner-up for the second successive year for our University of the Year award.
With graduate unemployment of just 1% ranking it joint second, it has also strongly increased the amount of competitive research funding received to €100m, more than any other institution. The NovaUCD enterprise programme has helped to create Ireland’s next generation of high-tech companies with one, ChangingWorlds, being sold for €40m last year.
Similar research and academic success, coupled with the republic’s best record for employment, with more than 99% of recent graduates in jobs or further education, saw Waterford Institute of Technology named as our Institute of Technology of the Year.
From researching health uses of seaweed to working as a testbed for 02’s future telecom services, Waterford has a wealth of research expertise.
Its strong performance across all our six key indicators saw it overtake the larger Cork IT to move to ninth position in our university league table. Its three campuses in the east coast port city have undergone a massive upgrade and the 39-year-old institution now offers some of the country’s best student facilities and completion rates.
This is helped by the fact that, despite its rapid expansion to more than 7,000 students, the 545 staff retain the personal touch. Cathy Pembroke, the students’ union president, says: “Most lecturers will know their students on a first-name basis.”
The Institute of Technology, Tralee earned the runner-up spot in our IT of the Year award. It has the country’s best student-to-staff ratio (10.7:1), the fourth-lowest dropout rate (14%) and is attracting better qualified entrants (356 Leaving Certificate points this year, compared with 346 last) on its revamped modular courses. Tralee jumped eight places to 10th in our league table, making it the biggest mover this year.
Its new campus is housed at Kerry Technology Park, part of an attempt to integrate businesses and education more closely. This contributed to a jump in research income.
Tralee also had one of the country’s best records for widening access, with 27% entering without the typical Leaving Certificate grades. This was achieved with innovative schemes such as having students take on the role of ambassadors at schools, and with other outreach schemes designed to encourage a return to education.
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