This morning, the Sunday Times released their annual Good University Guide.
The annual university guide ranks higher level institutions in Ireland for the next upcoming year, at a time when prospective sixth year students in secondary school are expected to start making their decision for next year.
Trinity has increased from its standing last year to 11th in student experience rankings; however, College still remains lower than several universities in the country.
The guide has ranked 11th the student experience at Trinity at 49.5%, lower than University College Dublin at 50.8%, Maynooth at 49.9% and Athlone Institute of Technology at 52.9%.
The student experience part of the rankings is calculated on a scale of 60 points across nine areas, such as effective teaching practices, student faculty interactions and a “supportive academic environment”, which are then averaged to produce an overall scaled score for each university.
Despite the low ranking in student experience, Trinity has ranked in the top position in the Sunday Times Good University Guide for the 19th successive year, followed by University College Cork (UCC) in second and University College Dublin (UCD) in third.
College has remained first in the Good University Guide this year due to remaining first in subjects such as points for entry, research income, progression rate and the amount spent on services and facilities.
The Sunday Times described Trinity as “buzzing”, remaining 1st in Ireland for the 19th year in a row, and commended College’s “cutting-edge research profile”, which includes projects such as Stevie II.
Among the attributes listed by the Sunday Times were research grants, which stood at over €119 million in 2019, that the paper described as being “by far” the most in Ireland.
Points for entry have remained in the top position in the guide between last year and now, with an average of 489 this year and an average of 520 last year.
Unemployment from Trinity is down to 7th position at 4%, while students graduating with Firsts and 2:1s are up to 4th at 69.9%.
Progression rate in College is second this year, with 92% of students progressing from one year to the next at Trinity.
There are currently 12,131 undergraduate students and 3,412 postgraduates at Trinity, with 702 teaching members of staff.
10.1% of students at Trinity are mature students, while 24.2% of students are from international backgrounds.
College’s worst performance was in student to staff ratio yet again this year, where it was placed at 17th for a ratio of 17.3 to 1.
Rents for Trinity or in the near vicinity of the college remain at one of the highest in the country, at €750 to €920 a month.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Trinity College Dublin’s Students’ Union (TCDSU) President Eoin Hand identified the “worst feature” of Trinity being no student parking, ranking the facilities at Trinity at eight and half out of 10. Hand said that the “deal clincher” for College was its location, “in the heart of Dublin City”.
In a year that has been like no other, the Sunday Times University Guide identified the lack of access to laptops for students who are distanced learning as one of the biggest problems, while some students have argued that the new learning format has made it easier for students to ask questions.
The guide also identified “technical glitches” in the blended learning environment that have been the main source of frustration for many first year students.
Trinity has ranked highly in many rankings this year, rising to 155 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, up from 164 in the rankings last year. Trinity also rose seven places to joint 101st, tying with Pennsylvania State University in the United States, in the QS world university rankings 2021 earlier this year.
