History of NUI Galway

National University of Ireland, Galway was established under the Colleges (Ireland) Act in 1845. The University was first known as Queens College Galway and along with it its sister colleges in Cork and Belfast, was established to provide non-denominational university education to Ireland’s emerging middle class.

The College opened it doors to its first intake of 68 students in October 1849. At the time, the College comprised three faculties, Arts (including Literary and Science divisions), Law and Medicine, as well as a School of Engineering & Agriculture.

In 1908, Queens College Galway was renamed University College Galway and was reconstituted as a constituent college of the newly established National University of Ireland, along with University College Cork and University College Dublin.

Under the Universities Act of 1997, the various colleges of the National University of Ireland were reconstituted as constituent universities. University College Galway was renamed National University of Ireland, Galway to mark the occasion.

The noted astronomer and physicist Alexander Andersen (1858-1936) graduated from Galway with an MA in 1881 from where he went on to further studies at the University of Cambridge. Anderson returned to Galway in 1885 where he succeeded Sir Joseph Larmor. Alexander Anderson is widely credited as the first person to suggest the existence of black holes.

Other notable Galway scholars included the natural historian A.G. Melville (1819-1901) author of the celebrated work on the extinction of the Dodo work and the distinguished economist J.E. Cairnes (1823-1875), whose influential work The Slave Power shaped the thinking of notable intellectuals of the time including Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin & Karl Marx.*

Other notable graduates included City Engineer of San Francisco, Michael O’Shaughnessy (1864 1934), and Alice Perry (1885-1969), the world’s first female engineering graduate (1906).

The University's graduates have also distinguidehed themselves in sport, the arts and politics. NUI Galway sent more athletes to the Beijing Olympics than any other Irish university. 200m sprinter Paul Hession, 20km walker Olive Loughnane, and heavyweight rowing stars Alan Martin and Cormac Folan are all NUI Galway students or graduates.

Similarly many of Ireland’s most renowned performance artists studied at NUI Galway, including Mick Lally, Marie Mullen, Seán McGinley, Garry Hynes (Druid Theatre Company) and Siobhán McKenna.

In 2006, acclaimed actor and political activist Martin Sheen attended NUI Galway as a Visitng Student while in June 2003, Nelson Mandela, Nobel Laureate and former President of South Africa was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate of Laws at the University. Other notbale recipinets of this award include  Hillary Rodham Clinton, then First Lady of the United States of America, who was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate in May 1999.

College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Celtic Studies

• The School of Geography and Archaeology
• The School of Humanities
• The School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures
• The School of Education
• The School of Psychology
• The School of Political Science and Sociology

College of Business, Public Policy and Law

• The J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics
• The School of Law

College of Engineering and Informatics

• The School of Engineering and Informatics

College of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences

• The School of Medicine
• The School of Nursing and Midwifery
• The School of Health Sciences.

College of Science

• The School of Mathematics, Statistics & Applied Mathematics
• The School of Natural Sciences
• The School of Chemistry
• The School of Physics

Over the last decade, the University has benefited enormously from considerable strengthening of its research capabilities. Today, NUI Galway hosts a multitude of Research Units and Centres as well as 7 Key Research Institutes:

• Moore Institute for Research in the Humanities & Social Studies
• Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI)
• Environmental Change Institute (ECI)
• Martin Ryan Marine Science Institute (MRI)
• National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Science (NCBES)
• Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI)
• Centre for Innovation and Structural Change (CISC)

NUI Gawlay's research focus has built on our traditional areas of academic strength resulting in a distinguished international reputation. Today we are leading the field in a wide range of areas including stem cell and gene therapy research, human rights law, environmental change and developing the next generation internet technology.

The University’s success in this area saw it jump over 100 places to 243 in the 2009 QS World University Rankings, the same year that NUI Gawlay was named Sunday Times University of the Year (in Ireland).

These include the €22 million Sports Centre (comprising a 25 metre swimming pool, squash and racquet ball courts, a major sports arena, multipurpose studios, a gym and climbing wall) and the new Cultural Centre (including performance facilities, exhibition space and an Auditorium as well as a prime theatre space for students).

* Foley, Tadhg (ed.) From Queen's College to National University of Ireland: Essays Towards an Academic History of QUC, UCG and NUI Galway, Four Courts Press, Dublin 2000