Professor Don Barry, President of the University of Limerick has welcomed the position of the University of Limerick within the Top 100 Young Universities of the World. Times Higher Education magazine has published the inaugural Times Higher Education 100 Under 50. A new annual ranking, listing the world’s best 100 universities under the age of 50 years and including the University of Limerick.

President Barry said “This latest accolade comes during a period of increasing recognition of the growing status of the University.   We are widely recognised for the outstanding student experience we offer to all our students, the excellence of our research and the impact UL is making on our society and our economy.”

 In 2011 UL was independently evaluated by the international university rating agency QS Stars and was awarded the maximum 5-star rating in 6 categories namely, teaching, engagement, internationalisation, innovation and knowledge transfer, infrastructure, and employability of UL graduates.

“A recent nationwide survey of students in Ireland indicated that UL’s student are the most satisfied in the country with UL recording the highest satisfaction rating of 85%” The survey also found UL to be the most active college, supporting its title as Ireland’s sporting campus. The survey, commissioned by CourseHub.ie, asked students to share their honest opinions on their course and college life, received over 10,000 responses making it one of the largest of its kind ever conducted in Ireland.

A report published by the Irish Universities Quality Board (IUQB) commends the University of Limerick’s student supports and long-standing commitment to employability.  The IUQB report commended UL’s 'excellent record in the employment of graduates’. With the largest Cooperative Education programme in Ireland, UL has a network of over 1,700 employers to provide internship places for UL students each year.

The University of Limerick has also achieved multiple firsts in a recent International Student Survey. The survey which involved over 5000 International students currently studying across the seven Irish Universities voted UL as the number one University in providing the Best Student Experience, Best Student Support and Warmest Welcome in Ireland.  The International Student Barometer™ survey was undertaken by independent research group i-Graduate and involved 238 institutions worldwide including the seven Irish universities.Across the four surveyed categories of ‘Living’, ‘Support’, ‘Arrival’ and ‘Learning’, UL was voted as having the best overall Living Experience in Ireland and the 5th in the world.

UL further excelled by being voted the most supportive University for International students who voted the Support Services as being the best in Ireland. UL was additionally deemed to have the ‘Best Multi-Cultural Teaching Experience’ in Ireland by the students surveyed.

The University of Limerick has the largest and most successful Erasmus programme in Ireland after performing exceptionally well this year.  In 2011 a record 333 UL students studied in 22 different European countries and 433 European students from 26 countries studied at UL as Erasmus students.