Trinity grabs top university award

TRINITY College Dublin has been named as The Sunday Times University of the Year 2007.

The award recognises the high calibre of entrants and the college’s top environmental record, with half of its waste being recycled and wind power being used to generate much of its electricity. It has also reorganised academic structures under the leadership of university provost Dr John Hegarty to introduce a wider range of courses.

Galway Mayo Institute of Technology has been selected as the country’s top IT in The Sunday Times University Guide 2007 published in tomorrow’s newspaper. It jumped from 16th of all 22 universities and ITs in 2003 to ninth place this year. It is the most dispersed third level college in the country, with five campuses along the western seaboard and, with more new courses this year and in 2008 than any other college, student numbers will move towards 6,000.

University College Cork is runner-up to Trinity and recorded higher academic results, with seven-out-of-10 graduates securing a first or 2:1 in their final results.

The runner-up spot in the IT sector was shared by the institutes at Tallaght in Dublin and Letterkenny, Co Donegal.

More than 25 criteria are used to determine the rankings, including staffing levels, graduate employment rates, dropout levels, and international development.