Limerick best university in Ireland

The Sunday Times Good University Guide has named Limerick University the university of the year 2015 in Ireland. The institution won for its graduate employability, strong research commercialisation, academic performance and its €52m ($65m) Bernal Project.

In the UK, Oxford University and Cambridge University tied for first place in the first dead heat since the ranking’s launch 21 years ago.

Limerick University holds a graduate employment rate of 70% for 2013, higher than Ireland’s national average of 52% – although the most recently available figure dates from 2012.

The university was also commended for its Bernal Project, an initiative investing in pharmaceutical science, engineering, energy and sustainability as well as biomedical materials and biomedical engineering. The project also created ten professorships, attracting experts from across the globe to the institution.

Limerick also houses Ireland’s national pharmaceutical research centre, which is the result of a €40m ($50m) investment: the Synthesis and Solid State Pharmaceutical Centre.

The Times also highlighted the university’s journalism school, a relatively new addition to the campus. Indeed, Robert McNamara, who graduated this year with a BA in journalism and new media, won Sunday Times Young Journalist of the Year 2014.

Alastair McCall, editor of the Sunday Times Good University Guide, said: “Limerick is one of the country’s youngest universities, and also one of the most nimble. The vision presented by the Bernal Project is a bold one; when it comes to fruition it will put Limerick on the map globally in research terms. Our award acknowledges that vision but also recognises the outstanding deal it offers students many of whom go on to play a critical role in the region around the university and the wider country beyond. Limerick’s work placement programme makes a compelling case to prospective students in an uncertain global economy.”