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The National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM; Irish: Ollscoil na hÉireann Mhá Nuad), commonly known as Maynooth University (MU) (Irish: Ollscoil Mhá Nuad), is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. It was Ireland's youngest university until Technological University Dublin was established in 2019, having been founded by the Universities Act, 1997, from the secular faculties of the now separate St Patrick's College, Maynooth, which was founded in 1795. Maynooth is also the only university town in Ireland, all other universities being based within cities.
St Patrick's Chapel Maynooth
The university consists of two connected campuses: an older southern campus, with 19th-century buildings, shared with St Patrick's College, and, across a public road, a modern northern campus, occupying circa 100 acres (0.40 km).
Over 13,000 students are enrolled in the university, employing over 900 staff from over 20 different countries. In 2009, Maynooth University was listed as a Top500 university in the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings. In 2008, it was named The Sunday Times 'University of the Year'.
Sculpture "Dance" in front of the Íontas Building, with the Eolas Building in the background
The university and St Patrick's College, Maynooth have a common history from 1795 to 1997. The college in Maynooth was established by the government as a college for Catholic lay and ecclesiastical students in 1795. The lay college was based from 1802 in Riverstown House on the south campus. With the opening of Clongowes Wood, the lay college which had lay trustees was closed in 1817 and it functioned solely as a Catholic seminary for almost 150 years. In 1876 the college became a constituent college of the Catholic University of Ireland, and later offered Royal University of Ireland degrees in arts and science. The Pontifical Charter was granted to the college in 1896.
20th and 21st centuries
The college became a recognised constituent college of the National University of Ireland in 1910. From this time, arts and science degrees were awarded by the National University of Ireland, while the Pontifical University of Maynooth continued to confer its own theology degrees, as these had been prohibited in the Royal University of Ireland, and continued to the National University of Ireland (its successor) until 1997.
In 1966 the college again allowed the entry of lay students; this greatly expanded the college and essentially set the foundation stone for Maynooth University. In 1997 the Universities Act resulted in the transfer of the faculties of arts, Celtic studies, philosophy and science of the recognised college of St Patrick's College to the new university. The university has also expanded into finance and engineering since its creation in 1997. In 2007 the university added business studies, followed by law in 2008.
Eolas Building on the North Campus
Any person who was a student at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, and was conferred with a National University of Ireland degree prior to the creation of the university, is legally considered a graduate of Maynooth University.
In 1994, W. J. Smyth was appointed to the position of Master of St. Patrick's College Maynooth (NUI) and in 1997 he became president of MU. In 2004 W. J. Smyth was succeeded by John G. Hughes as president of Maynooth University. Thomas Collins was appointed interim president for 2010–2011, and Philip Nolan served in the role 2011–2021. On 1 October 2021, Finnish academic Eeva Leinonen became the first woman president of the institution.
Phoenix sports centre1910 – St. Patricks College, Maynooth officially becomes a recognised college of the National University of Ireland
1937 – Department of Sociology founded
1966 – Lay students admitted
1970 – Dept. of Biology founded as part of the Faculty of Science
1979 – Pope John Paul II visits Maynooth
1984 – The John Paul II Library is built
1987 – Dept. of Computer Science founded as part of the Faculty of Science
1995 – Bi-centennial celebrations
1996 – Third level fees abolished by the Irish Government
1997 – National University of Ireland, Maynooth founded from the faculties of Science, Arts and Celtic studies of Maynooth College of the NUI; Outreach Campus at St. Kieran's College in Kilkenny founded
1999 – Foundation of Dept. of Psychology
2001 – Foundation of Dept. of Engineering. MA in Leadership course commences for officers in the Irish Defence Forces; joint delivery of programmes with the Defence Forces, in Leadership, Management, Engineering and Computing, up to and including Masters level
2004 – Foundation of the Dept. of Media Studies by Professor Chris Morash, as part of the School of English, Media and Theatre Studies
2007 – Marie Curie Laboratory for Membrane Proteins opens, as NUIM wins European Union Marie Curie "Transfer of Knowledge" funding
2008 – Named Sunday Times University of the Year; university canteen burns down during open day.
2009 – Foundation of Department of Law with Professor Sandeep Gopalan as the first head of department.
2010 – Announced that Froebel College of Education will move to the university by 2013; formation of the School of Business; Professor John Hughes resigns presidency to take post at Bangor University.
2012 – Extension to The John Paul II Library is completed
The university's main campus straddles the main road from Maynooth to Kilcock. It is divided into the North Campus and the South Campus (also referred to by staff and students as the "new" and "old" campuses respectively). The campuses were connected by means of a footbridge that crossed over the road until mid-2011. The footbridge was then decommissioned due to the construction of a library extension on the South Campus. The campuses are now connected by means of a pedestrian crossing on the Kilcock Road. The campus has four buildings for on-campus accommodation, namely Rye, Village, River, and Courtyard.
The South Campus houses the facilities of St. Patrick's College, as well as most of the administrative offices shared between college and university. A number of MU academic departments also have their offices on the South Campus including Law, Mathematics, Music, Geography, Economics and History. The main buildings, most of which were built in the 19th century, are the Aula Maxima; St. Patrick's House (including the college chapel); the John Paul II Library (built in 1984). In December 2012 an extension to the John Paul II library was completed. The extension is 6,000m and accommodates 1,700 students. New, Dunboyne, Humanity and Stoyte Houses which collectively form St. Joseph's Square; Logic House and Rhetoric House.
The first building to be completed on the South Campus was named after its designer, John Stoyte. Stoyte House, still a prominent presence on campus, stands in proximity to Maynooth Castle.
Entrance to the Graveyard on South Campus, showing the trees' convergence like a vault
Over a period of 15 years, the site at Maynooth underwent rapid construction so as to cater for the influx of new students, and the buildings which now border St. Joseph's Square (to the rear of Stoyte House) were completed by 1824. The university chapel is located on the South Campus, just off St. Joseph's Square; masses and choir services are frequently held in the chapel, as is the traditional Christmas carol service. The South Campus also houses the National Science Museum and the Russell Library.
North Campus
The North Campus was developed far more recently than the South Campus, in the latter half of the 20th century. Here, the main buildings are the Students' Union building, Sports Complex, Biosciences, and Engineering Building, Callan Science Building (named after the inventor of the induction coil, Nicholas Callan), the Iontas Building, the Arts Building, the Science Building and the John Hume Building. The Eolas Building houses the department of Computer Science, the Business Incubation Centre, the Innovation Value Institute, as well as the Hamilton and Callan Institutes, along with several teaching spaces, while the Technology, Society and Innovation (TSI) Building houses living labs and break out rooms for interactive research; three large theatres of 500, 300 and 250-seat capacity, and research spaces for students, academics and collaboration with industry partners.
The student services function is also based on North Campus, and there are a number of playing fields and a sports complex, which includes a fully equipped gym and an astroturf field. The remainder of MU's academic departments, as well as many research institutes such as the Institute of Microelectronics and Wireless Systems, the Hamilton Institute and the Institute of Immunology, are also located on the North Campus.
Kilkenny Campus
The university also maintained a campus in Kilkenny from September 1997 until June 2018, based at St Kieran's College, with students enrolled in certificate, diploma and degree programmes.
St Kieran's College, Kilkenny
Administration and organisation
The university is divided into three faculties: Arts, Celtic Studies and Philosophy; Science and Engineering; Social Sciences, with most students studying within one of these streams (although some cross-discipline courses are available). The faculties are further divided into various schools and departments.
As of 2016, there were 1,800 students at post graduate level.
Iontas Building and the John Hume Building in the background
Froebel College of Education
Since 2013, Froebel College of Education is situated on campus. Maynooth University has established a "Froebel Department of Early Childhood and Primary Education" and awarded Froebel College's four-year Bachelor of Education degrees, Higher Diploma in Primary Education, Master's degree in Special and Inclusive Education and Postgraduate Diploma in Arts in Special Education. The Education Building opened in late September 2016.
As a continuity of Froebel Colleges' heritage Religious Education and Theology modules are delivered by the department and the faculty of Theology of St Patrick's College, Maynooth (SPCM).
Academic affiliations
Maynooth University is a member of Universities Ireland, The Irish Universities Association, European University Association, European Association for International Education and Eurodoc.
MU is also a member of Dublin Region Higher Education Alliance, along with three other universities; TCD, UCD, DCU, and four institutes of technology; DIT, IADT, ITT and ITB. Maynooth University is also a member of the 3U Partnership with Dublin City University and the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland.
The L.L.M. in International Business Law is offered as a dual degree offered in conjunction with the Catholic University of Lyon (UCLy) in France, the course is delivered in English.
The Development Studies programmes of the Kimmage Development Studies Centre, began being delivered from Maynooth and accredited by the university in 2013, with the Centre moving from Kimmage Manor to Maynooth in 2018.
The Diploma in Arts (Church Music) delivered in association with the National Liturgy Institute (St. Patrick's College, Maynooth) and the Dept. of Music NUI Maynooth.
Any student of St Patrick's College, Maynooth prior to the passing of the Universities Act, 1997, upon whom a degree of the National University of Ireland was conferred is now legally considered to be a graduate of Maynooth University. The college continues to share its campus with Maynooth University but remains a separate legal entity with training in canon law, philosophy and theology and awards the degrees of the Pontifical University and is associated with several other colleges.
Reputation and rankings
In 2008, Maynooth University occupied fourth place on the Irish Sunday Times University League Table 2008, the newspaper's annual league table of Irish third-level institutions, behind TCD, UCD and UCC, having jumped three places since 2007. It was also the top institution for research income won per academic, with one of the best graduate employment records of any Irish university at almost 100 percent. MU was also named "University of The Year 2008" in The Sunday Times University Guide (UK), beating UCD which finished second.
In 2010, Maynooth University recorded the highest growth in first preference school-leaver applications in the university sector.
In 2011, Maynooth University became the first and only institution outside of the United States to be included in the Princeton Review of Best Colleges.
St Patrick's College (NUI) won the inaugural University Challenge based Irish Higher Education Quiz show on RTÉ, Challenging Times in 1991, winning again in 1992 and as MU in 1999.
Maynooth University and University of Newcastle, Australia's joint robotic soccer team "Numanoids" won the soccer Standard Platform League (2-Legged Robot) RoboCup World Championship which was held in Suzhou, China from 14 to 20 July 2008. 2008 was Maynooth University's first year to enter the international robot competition which hosted 440 teams from 35 countries.
Maynooth University first entered the Microsoft Imagine Cup in 2007. It achieved both first and third place in the Imagine Cup Ireland finals, earning participation in the world finals in Seoul, South Korea in August 2007. Team inGEST (Interactive Gesture), who developed a low-cost interactive system for teaching sign language using standard web cameras for feedback, achieved a top-six position in the finals and went on to Silicon Valley in February 2008 as part of the Imagine Cup Innovation Accelerator Program. In 2008, students tied for second place in the Microsoft Imagine Cup in the category of "Embedded Development". A total of 124 teams representing 61 countries and regions took part in 2008. In 2010 the university won the award for Best Windows Azure Application with their cloud-based medical record system.
Coat of Arms
Maynooth University coat of arms, granted 2016
The coat of arms, which were granted by the Chief Herald of Ireland in 2016, are blazoned: Argent an open book leaved and bound proper clasped or a chief gyrony of six of the field and gules on a point in point of the last a cross pattée fitchy at all points of the first.
The book represents a place of universal learning, the cross the university's links to the seminary, the division of the chief into six representing its six disciplines, and the use of red and white is reminiscent of the FitzGerald dynasty's links to Maynooth. The university does not currently use its coat of arms, preferring to use the logo which was introduced in 2014.
Research institutes
A number of research institutes fall under the auspices of Maynooth University:
Irish Climate Analysis and Research Units (ICARUS) – Established in order to improve scientific understanding of climate change and its impacts
The Callan Institute (formerly Institute of Microelectronics and Wireless Systems) – Provides for research into electronic and software systems and wireless communications.
National Centre for Geocomputation – Leading international research centre in the field of Geocomputation
An Foras Feasa – The Institute for Research in Irish Historical and Cultural Traditions
Innovation Value Institute (IVI) – a joint research institute founded by Maynooth University and Intel which was "awarded to Maynooth University in 2006 over Massachusetts Institute of Technology"
The university offers a number of sport scholarships to aspiring students in Gaelic games, rugby, golf, swimming, Soccer and snooker. Maynooth is the only university in Ireland to offer scholarships in swimming. Rugby scholarships were introduced to Maynooth University in 2006 in which scholarship students are obliged to attend the rugby performance centre and to play with the university teams and Barnhall RFC. The Maynooth University Rugby Performance Centre is open to all Rugby Club members attending MU. The aim of the centre is to enhance students' prospects within the game of rugby and to continue to achieve success with the university teams. As part of the link-up with Barnhall RFC, players from the youth system 16–20s are invited to take part in a summer programme. Currently, there are 4 men's teams playing in Barnhall rugby club as well as the introduction of the women's Rugby scholarship there is now a women's rugby team in Barnhall.
In addition to individual clubs' intervarsity competitions, Maynooth University has a standing intervarsity competition with Dublin City University (DCU) each year called the 35s, in which the two colleges compete as a whole. Each club faces their counterpart in DCU, the winning university being whichever takes most points out of the 35 available over all sports.
A Christmas Carol service is held in the college chapel on an annual basis. The service is open to staff and students of the university and St Patrick's College, as well as members of the general public. Because of high demand, tickets are allocated by lottery.
In 1990 the Dept. of Mathematics, at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, initiated by Professor O'Farrell, commenced an annual walk from Dunsink Observatory, to Broombridge, Cabra, to commemorate the mathematician William Rowan Hamilton. Initially called The Quaternion Walk, now called The Hamilton Walk, takes place in October each year.
The Maynooth Alumni Association is for graduates of Maynooth University and St Patricks College, Maynooth, who wish to keep in touch with their College and also provides the means to stay in touch with friends and classmates. It hosts a number of events such as the Alumni Ball, Networking events, and publishes the Alumni magazine The Bridge.
Stephen Woulfe who became a barrister, and Attorney General and the first Catholic to be Chief Barron of the Irish Exchequer also attended the lay college at Maynooth.
Chris Morash, chair of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland Compliance Committee was a professor of English, Media and Theatre Studies at NUI Maynooth
Dermot Barnes-Holmes, Professor of Psychology, is the world's most prolific author in the experimental analysis of behaviour for the years 1980–1999, and is noted for the development of Relational Frame Theory alongside Steven C. Hayes.
Nicholas Callan, inventor of the induction coil, who was a student and Professor of Natural Philosophy (Physics) at Maynooth Nicholas Callan, inventor of the induction coil
Sir Dominic Corrigan Bart., MD, MP, physician, first Catholic president of the Royal College of Physicians, member of the Queen's Colleges Senate, Vice-Chancellor of the Queen's University in Ireland, and Liberal MP for Dublin City was student of the lay college in the early 19th century.
Mathematician and Classical scholar Pádraig de Brún was Professor of Mathematics at Maynooth prior to becoming president of UCG (NUI Galway).
Sir Joseph de Courcy Laffan physician to the Duke of Kent and Duke of York attended the early lay college in Maynooth.
John Hegarty, former Provost of Trinity College Dublin, holds both a BSc in Physics/Chemistry/Mathematics/Philosophy and a HDipEd from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth.
Peter Thorne is a climatologist and professor of physical geography in the Department of Geography and chair of the International Surface Temperature Initiative.
Theology
Pope St. John Paul II Library on Maynooth University's South Campus
Cornelius Denvir, mathematician, natural philosopher, and Bishop
ReSearch: Magazine detailing current research at the university
The Bridge: Biannual alumni magazine produced by the Alumni Association.
The Print: Monthly magazine published by the Maynooth Students' Union, featuring editorials, interviews, creative works and campus news
The Golden Thread: Newsletter featuring editorials, comments and articles on current issues regarding the law department and the area of law in general
The Irish Law Journal: Peer-reviewed and student-edited law journal
Archivium Hibernicum: founded in 1911 is an annual historical journal published by St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, and the Dept. of Modern History, Maynooth University.
Maynooth Philosophical Papers, a biennial journal founded in 2002 by Thomas A. F. Kelly and edited in the Department of Philosophy
Defunct
The Tonic / Maynooth Advocate: newspaper titles published by the Publications Society.
The SUS / nuimsu.com / The Spoke: former newspaper & magazine titles published by the Students' Union (predecessors to The Print)
Gallery
The Rye River flowing by the university library
Pugin Hall, Maynooth University.
The Courtyard apartments on Maynooth University's North Campus
The Maynooth University School of Education, North Campus
The famine memorial on the main street in Maynooth
Pope St. John Paul II statue at Maynooth University
Memorial stone to Grace Kelly and her Irish-American ancestors
The Rye River flowing by the university library
Pugin Hall, Maynooth University.
The Courtyard apartments on Maynooth University's North Campus
The Maynooth University School of Education, North Campus
The famine memorial on the main street in Maynooth
Pope St. John Paul II statue at Maynooth University
Memorial stone to Grace Kelly and her Irish-American ancestors
