Trinity makes top 100 universities in the world as UCC falls further back 

Trinity is now the 98th best university in the world while Irish colleges have performed poorly overall 

 Trinity College Dublin. Photo: Collins Courts

Trinity College Dublin has been named in the top 100 universities in the world, according to the most-consulted international rankings list, while other Irish colleges including University College Cork (UCC) have performed poorly. 

UCC has fallen out of the top 300 universities in the Quacquarelli Symonds rankings list after dropping five places to the 303rd spot. 

In general Irish colleges have performed poorly this year according to the QS higher education analysts, as Dublin City University is the only other college to make gains this year, having risen from 490 to 471. 

Trinity has the most international student body of all the higher education institutions in Ireland, and it has won out over other Irish colleges in six of the seven criteria that QS use to measure success. 

The QS rankings list 1,418 higher education institutions from across 100 locations across the globe. 

The education analysts measure the success of universities according to six indicators: Academic and employer reputation, research output per faculty, the faculty/ student ratio, internationalisation, employment outcomes and international research collaboration. 

The National University of Ireland Galway did beat Trinity in the area of faculty per student ratio, as it ranks 183rd for small class sizes globally. 

Trinity is the best performing university when it comes to international reputation and for research output, according to the QS Rankings. 

UCC has dropped five places to the 303rd spot. 

Though there was a general decline in the rankings held by Irish colleges, universities here are improving their international reputation among employers. Strides have also been made in the area of medical research. 

University College Dublin is the only other Irish college to make the top 200 on the list, but the college has dropped nine places since last year, making it the 181st highest-ranking university in the world. 

QS Senior Vice President Ben Sowter said that though in many respects Ireland's institutions are performing well, the limits to their success will be defined by investment in an increasingly competitive global landscape. 

"The positive reputational trends we are observing in our Irish dataset suggest that the country’s universities are continuing to command the respect of employers and are nurturing students for success in work.

“With Ireland experiencing record enrollment numbers, the challenge remains financial. Indeed, the obstacles to further improvement are clearest in the areas that require consistent investment: teaching capacity, for example, " he added. 

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology remains the highest-ranking institution in the world, while the University of Oxford has lost the second-highest spot to the University of Cambridge this year.