University of Galway


The University of Galway is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. The university was founded in 1845 as Queen's College, Galway. It was known as "University College, Galway" from 1908 to 1997 and as "National University of Ireland Galway" from 1997 to 2022. In September 2022, it changed its name to "Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway". It is also a member of the Coimbra Group, a network of 40 long-established European universities.

History

The university was established in 1845 as Queen's College, Galway, together with Queen's College, Cork, and Queen's College, Belfast. It opened for teaching on 30 October 1849 with 68 students. In 1850, it became part of the Queen's University of Ireland, and its degrees were conferred in the name of that university.
Located close to the city centre, the university campus stretches along the River Corrib. The oldest part of the university, the Quadrangle with its Aula Maxima, was designed by John Benjamin Keane in a Tudor Gothic architectural style and was constructed from local limestone; it is a replica of Christ Church, one of the colleges at the University of Oxford.
The Queen's University was dissolved on 3 February 1882 under the University Education Act 1879, and was replaced by the Royal University of Ireland, which had been established on 27 April 1880.
Under the Irish Universities Act 1908, the RUI was dissolved and was replaced by the National University of Ireland and Queen's University of Belfast. The name of Queen's College, Galway, was changed to University College, Galway, and it became a constituent college of the new National University of Ireland, together with University College Dublin, and University College Cork. Queen's College, Belfast, became an independent university, called the Queen's University of Belfast. University College, Galway, was given special statutory responsibility under the University College Galway Act 1929 with respect of the use of the Irish language as a working language of the university.
Members of the Franciscan Order from St. Anthony's College would have studied for degrees in UCG, similarly members of the Society of African Missions at their House of Philosophy, at Cloughballymore, Kilcolgan, Co Galway, studied for degrees in UCG. St. Anthony's is now used by the J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics.
Several new buildings were constructed on the university campus in the 1970s and were designed by architects Scott Tallon Walker. The 1990s also saw considerable development, including the conversion of an old munitions factory into a student centre. Under the early 21st-century Presidency of Iognáid G. Ó Muircheartaigh, the university announced details of plans to make the university a "campus of the future" at a cost of around €400 million. Ó Muircheartaigh's successor James J. Browne continued and implemented that plan.
Under the Universities Act 1997, the name of University College, Galway, was changed to National University of Ireland, Galway, and it became a university in its own right, as a constituent university of the National University of Ireland. The university had hoped to change its name to University of Galway, but had received legal advice that this was not possible under the provisions of the Act.
Visiting the university in 2003, on what was to be his last visit to Ireland, Nelson Mandela condemned U.S. foreign policy and received an honorary doctorate from the NUI Chancellor, Garret FitzGerald.
21st-century developments include a state-of-the-art University Sports Centre, Áras Moyola, J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics, the Alice Perry Engineering Building, the BioSciences Research Building, the Life Course Institute, the Lambe Institute and the O'Donoghue Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance, and the Human Biology Building.
In 2014, the Equality Tribunal ruled in favor of Dr Micheline Sheehy Skeffington, granddaughter of the famous Irish feminist couple Hannah Sheehy Skeffington and Francis Sheehy Skeffington, who claimed she had been discriminated against on the grounds of gender during 2009. The university "unreservedly" accepted the decision that the "hiring process was flawed". In 2015 with "widespread concern" among staff, mandatory unconscious bias training was introduced for senior staff, including heads of school and interview boards. In 2017 Dr Elizabeth Tilley was deemed to have exceeded qualifications for senior lectureship following a Labour Court hearing and promoted. In 2017, the gender ratio of senior lecturers in the university was 60:40 in favour of men. The ratio of professorships, the most senior academic grade, was 87:13 in favor of men. In 2018 the university achieved bronze status in the Athena SWAN recognises a commitment to advancing gender equality in higher education and research careers. In 2018 a further four female lecturers who had also applied for promotion in 2009 were promoted having settled their cases "amicably".
The university launched its Strategic Plan "Shared Vision, Shaped By Values" in 2020. Also in 2020, the university was awarded €4 million from the EU's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme to support its Solar2chem project.
In April 2022, it was announced that NUI Galway would be renamed "Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway" in summer 2022, amid confusion over its proper title. On 1 September 2022, the university changed its name to the "University of Galway". This change took legal effect in February 2024.

Bilingual status

Under the University College Galway Act, 1929, the university was given special statutory responsibility with respect of the use of the Irish language as a working language of the university.
The Act of 1929 provided that when recruiting a person to work for the university, a person competent in the Irish language must be appointed to the position unless no such person with the necessary competence to carry out the role could be found among the candidates for the position. As a result, every president appointed to the university thereafter was fluent in Irish. The university's governing authority complained that this requirement limited the pool of potential candidates for the office of president. As a result, the Act was amended in 2006 to replace the requirement for fluency in the Irish language amongst staff and management with a commitment to provide for education through the Irish language. In 2016, the university amended its recruitment criteria to allow for the possibility of a non-Irish-speaking president.
In August 2025, a non-Irish-speaking president was appointed to the university for the first time since the appointment of Alexander Anderson in 1899.

Colleges and schools

Up until 2007, the university was divided into seven faculties, which were further subdivided into some 69 departments. In 2007–2008, the university transitioned from the faculties and departments structure to a structure of five colleges divided into various schools.
The following are the current colleges and schools of the university:
Since 2015 the Shannon College of Hotel Management has been fully incorporated into the university — becoming part of the College of Business, Public Policy & Law at Galway — formally marked by the Minister for Education and Skills Jan O'Sullivan at an event held in Shannon College on 9 November 2015. All staff of Shannon College of Hotel Management became staff of the university and all students of Shannon College of Hotel Management became students of the university.

Research

There are five designated Research Institutes and a number of Research Centres and Units at the University of Galway. Designated Research Institutes at the university are characterised by significant interdisciplinary and high-quality research activity, including extensive collaboration nationally and internationally.
Examples of mould-breaking research include sugar coating devices and how spider bites can lead to hospitalisation.

Foundation

Galway University Foundation was established in 1998 with the intention of generating financial support for the university from private individuals and institutions. It nurtures relationships with donors for whom the university's approach to education appeals. The Foundation has many 'Priority Projects' in development.
The main library building of the University of Galway is named the James Hardiman Library after the library's first librarian, James Hardiman.

Student life

Societies

University of Galway has about 150 active student societies, ranging from the academic to artistic and performing, lifestyle and wellbeing, religious and political, social action and volunteering, social and cultural, and special interest.
The oldest society on the campus is the Literary and Debating Society, founded in 1846. The university's drama society, Dramsoc, was founded in 1914 after the earliest recorded student production in 1904 demonstrated the need for a student-run drama society. Cumann Staire is one of Europe's oldest history societies, and is a member of Comhaltas na gCumann Staire and the International Students of History Association. The university's Fianna Fáil branch, Cumann de Barra, was founded in 1954, making it the oldest university political party branch in Ireland. Fine Gael's youth wing was founded in the university in 1973 during the Liam Cosgrave-led Fine Gael/Labour Coalition government, with Enda Kenny and Madeleine Taylor-Quinn among those behind its establishment there. Official Sinn Féin were also influential in campus politics in the 1970s, and Students Union Presidents Eamon Gilmore and Johnny Curran were party members. CompSoc is the oldest of its kind in the country, established in 1977.
Most of Ireland's main political parties have active societies at the university including Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Green, Labour, People Before Profit, Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats.
Flirt FM is a community radio station located on campus, spearheaded by the Radio Society. Sin Newspaper is the student-run news outlet of the university.
GUMS, the university musical society, hosts annual musicals in the Dubhlann/Black Box Theatre.
In 2014, the Christian and LGBT societies were involved in a showdown over same-sex marriage. The incident was provoked by the auditor of the Christian Society, running for the position of Equality Officer in that year's student union election. Earlier, in the late part of 2013, the university suspended the Legion of Mary Society after it failed to satisfactorily explain its connection to posters containing information on a Christian support group for homosexual persons.
An Cumann Gaelach and An Cumann Drámaíochta are the university's main Irish language societies, following the demise of the Cumann Craic.