UCL And Trinity Slip In World Rankings

Ireland's two top Universities have slipped in the world rankings after a difficult year for the education sector.

Trinity College Dublin has fallen nine places this year, putting it out of the prestigious top 50 club, while University College Dublin has dropped by 25, according to the new rankings published today.

Trinity is now rated as the 52nd best University, while UCL is considered 114th. The top five includes the illustrious Harvard and Yale Universities in the United States, University College London, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with the University of Cambridge piping Harvard for the top spot this year.

The news of the drop for Irish Universities come as figures released today by the Organisation for Economic and Co-operation Development (OECD) showed educational spending in Ireland is lies 29th out of 33 OECD European member states.

Fine Gael Education Spokesperson, Fergus O’Dowd said that during a period when education should be prioritised, the Fianna Fáil Government had cut back significantly on education spend as a percentage of GDP.

“At a time when education should be at the forefront of our economic recovery, the OECD Report has confirmed that Ireland’s education spend pales in comparison to 32 other countries," he said.

He added: “The figures contained in the report relate to areas such class sizes, education spend and teaching time and are invaluable when assessing where our education system is and how Government policies are impacting upon it. To say the least, the results are not encouraging."

According to the OECD study, Ireland's class sizes are the second highest in the EU, and that less is spent on third level than the OECD average – 1.2% of GDP here compared to a 1.5% average.

Mr O'Dowd said: “Education holds the key to our economic recovery. We need a skilled, high-tech workforce participating in a thriving ‘knowledge economy. This means that education should be in the vanguard of policy formation but Fianna Fáil is, instead, leaving the sector languishing. It is to all our cost that this is the case.”

(DW/KMcA)