Trinity maintained its position as Ireland’s top university in the QS Rankings 2025 but went down slightly in the overall rankings from 81st to 87th.
University College Dublin (UCD) was the biggest climber among Irish universities, jumping 45 places from 171st last year to 126th, keeping its place as the second highest ranked university in Ireland.
Eight Irish universities were ranked in total, with the table covering the top 1,500 universities in the world. Five Irish universities improved their ranking.
The University of Galway and University College Cork, ranked 289th and 293rd last year respectively, came in at a joint 273rd.
The University of Limerick rose five places to a joint 421nd, with Dublin City University (DCU) rising 15 places to share that spot. Maynooth University remained in the 801-850 band while TU Dublin kept its place in the 851-900 band.
These rankings mark the second year three new measures – sustainability, employment outcomes and international research networks – have been used by QS to evaluate universities.
The new measures have meant an adjustment to the weighting of older indicators including academic reputation, employer reputation and faculty/student ratio.
Trinity was the top performing Irish university in six of the indicators: academic reputation, employer reputation, citations per faculty, international faculty ratio, international student ratio and international research net work.
The University of Galway was ranked best in the country for faculty/student ratio while UCD was the best in the country for employment outcomes.
Ireland’s only top 50 ranking in one of the indicators was claimed by UCD, ranked 50th in the world for sustainability.
QS senior vice president Ben Sowter said there are “notable areas in which Ireland can improve”.
“Since QS piloted the sustainability performance lens in last year’s edition, Ireland has emerged as a world leader in ESG and SDG strategy, spearheaded by University College Dublin,” he said.
“Meanwhile, Ireland’s international reputation remains robust, driving a considerable upswing in its global draw for international students.
“As many of the world’s established global study destinations tighten controls on inbound mobility, there is an opportunity for Ireland to reap the benefits of a growing number of prospective overseas scholars who are increasingly diversifying their options.
“However, there remain notable areas in which Ireland can improve. As a booming centre for international business and innovation, it should look to leverage industry partnerships to facilitate important relevant research to further improve the already impressive career prospects enjoyed by its graduates.”
Meanwhile the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has held on to the number one overall spot for a 13th consecutive year while Oxbridge dominance in the UK has been broken by Imperial College London.
Led by Professor Hugh Brady, former President Emeritus of UCD, Imperial College London was ranked second in the world and has become the first university other than Oxford or Cambridge to top the UK table in a decade.
