Trinity has fallen three places in the 2019 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, ranking 120th globally. Trinity is the highest-placed Irish university on the rankings.
Despite the overall drop, Trinity’s performance increased in four of the five categories which THE uses to assess universities. These categories are Teaching, Research, Citations, Industry Income, and International Outlook, which culminate in an overall score. Trinity’s Dean of Research Professor Linda Doyle explained it is “a measure of how competitive the field is that better performance on [Trinity’s] part is not reflected in the rankings”.
Doyle attributes the fall in rankings to increased investments made by global competition combines with reduced government investment in Ireland, which she says have direct impact on the university rankings.
“It is essential that we remain highly ranked to ensure that Irish students can continue to avail of an internationally competitive higher education. It is important for Ireland, not just for Trinity,” continued Doyle. “The fact that Trinity has remained in the top 120 global universities over successive years is testament to the quality of our university.”
Trinity has also fallen in the latest QS rankings, with a 16-place drop to 104th globally, although it remained Ireland’s highest-ranked university. University College Dublin (UCD) placed 193rd, while National University of Ireland, Galway ranked 260th in second and third place in Ireland respectively.
Last year, Trinity ranked 117th globally in the THE rankings, scoring 58.7 overall. Its highest scores were in Industrial Outlook (92.1) and Citations (79.0), whilst scoring lowest on Industry Income (42.1). Trinity rose over ten places last year from 131st to 117th.
THE ranked Trinity as the 9th most beautiful university in the world earlier this year for its “cobblestone walkways” and “18th-century architectural gems”, along with the Long Room in the Old Library.
