University College Cork - Today

Today

Today the university has over 18,000 students - of which there are over 12,000 undergraduate degree candidates. This student base is supported by 2,747 staff - of which 762 are faculty. There are 1153 non academic staff and 832 research staff.

The university is one of Ireland's leading research institutes, with the highest research income in the state. The university's internal research reputation spans all of its faculties where it offers over 120 degree and professional programmes through seven schools and 27 departments. The university had seven faculties in Arts and Celtic Studies, Commerce, Engineering, Food Science and Technology, Law, Medicine, and Science. In recent years,the University has been restructured so that it now has four colleges: Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Science; Business and Law; Medicine and Health; and Science, Engineering and Food Science.

UCC is home to the Irish Institute of Chinese Studies, which allows students to study Chinese culture as well as the language through Arts and Commerce. The department recently won the European Award for Languages 2008.

Student numbers, currently at over 18,000, have increased greatly since the late 1980s, precipitating the expansion of the campus by the acquisition of adjacent buildings and lands. This expansion continues to the present day to meet the needs of an ever growing student population, with the construction of the Alfred O'Rahilly building, the Cavanagh Pharmacy building, the Brookfield Health Sciences centre, the extended Áras na MacLéinn (Devere Hall), the Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Experience UCC (Visitors' Centre) and an extension to the Boole Library - named for the first professor of mathematics at UCC, George Boole, who developed the algebra that would later make computer programming possible. The University also recently opened the Western Gateway Building on the site of the former Cork Greyhound track on the Western Road as well as significant refurbishment to the Tyndall institute buildings at the Lee Maltings Complex.

The university has a number of related companies including: Cytrea, which is involved in pharmaceutical formulations; Firecomms, an ICT company concentrating on optical communications; Alimentary Health a biotech healthcare company; Biosensia who develop integrated micro-system analytical chips; Sensl developers of low light sensors and imaging systems; Luxcel which is involved in the development of probes and sensors for the pharmaceutical and food safety industries; and Optical Metrology Innovations who develop laser metrology systems.

The college was involved in some controversy in 2006 when one academic, Professor Des Clarke alleged that the university authorities were guilty of financial mismanagement, and called for a full independent inquiry into governance. The subsequent inquiry found that there was no evidence of financial mismanagement.

Also in 2006, the University re-opened the Crawford Observatory, a structure built in 1880 on the grounds of the university by Sir Howard Grubb. Grubb, son of the Grubb telescope building family in Dublin, designed the observatory and built the astronomical instruments for the structure. The University paid for an extensive restoration and conservation program of the building and the three main telescopes, the Equatorial, the Transit Circle and the Sidereostatic telescope.

In October 2008, the governing body of the university announced that UCC would be the first institution in Ireland to use embryonic stem cells in research.

In November 2009, many UCC buildings were damaged by unprecedented flooding. The floods also affected other parts of Cork City, with many students being evacuated from accommodation. The college authorities postponed academic activities for a week, and indicated that it would take until 2010 before all flood damaged property would be repaired. A major scene of damage was the newly opened Western Gateway Building, with the main lecture theatre requiring a total refit just months after opening for classes.