Inspired by the act of reflecting, an exhibition A University of Our Time opens on campus on 28 September 2022,  exploring the origins and development of the University and the institutions that went before it.

Drawing on a range of objects, images, video footage, oral histories, and documents, the multimedia exhibition charts the campaign for a university, the establishment of the NIHE and the National College of Physical Education, and Thomond College of Education, the attainment of university status, and the part played by students, staff, donors and others in establishing a community of scholars and students at Plassey.

The exhibition showcases not only what came to be but also what was imagined but not realised. Did you know that one of the early proposed sites for the campus was King John’s Castle in Limerick city, or that the campaigners of the 1960s proposed naming it after President John F. Kennedy or that the Stables was originally earmarked for demolition? Think you know UL … think again.