Ireland's Leading Universities for 2025

Ireland’s historic and prestigious universities have produced the likes of James Joyce and Samuel Beckett. If you’re an international Masters student looking to blend rich historical and literary heritage with a focus on modern research, then the Irish universities have a lot to offer.

Despite its size, the Republic of Ireland boasts several internationally renowned higher education institutions. Trinity College Dublin, Ireland’s oldest and most historic institute is 139th in the world according to the Times Higher Education Ranking 2025.

The higher education sector in Ireland can broadly be divided into the university sector (traditional research-led universities and technological universities like TU Dublin), Institutes of Technology and Colleges of Education, each performing a crucial role in making Ireland’s education system one of the most renowned in the world.

• University sector – Ireland hosts seven traditional, research-led public universities. One of the biggest public universities in Ireland is the National University of Ireland (NUI) which has four institutes under its umbrella: University College Dublin, University of Galway, University College Cork and the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. Despite being primarily state-funded, all public universities remain autonomous, which means they develop their own programmes and follow their own research agendas. In 2019, Ireland established an exciting new cohort of technological universities with TU Dublin being the first and largest in the group.
• Institutes of Technology – there are two publicly funded Institutes of Technology in Ireland.
• Colleges of Education – These are seven specialised institutions that provide training for teachers, and they offer 18-month postgraduate diplomas.

There are also some privately-owned, fee-paying institutions that mainly offer vocational or Business courses. They’re usually accredited by a partner university, but this is not the case with all of them. You should always check the validity of qualifications in other countries.

Universities in Ireland are known for their quality of education, research and student life which is reflected by their position in the international university ranking tables.

The table below lists the 10 best universities in Ireland for Masters study according to global rankings. These institutions offer some of the most well-regarded courses in Ireland. This information is based on the latest ranking tables, researched and published by Times Higher Education, QS and the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). It is important to note that each ranking system has their own methodology, and different factors affect the final result for a particular university.

For more information have a look at our guide on using international rankings as a postgraduate.

Wherever you decide to study in Ireland, each institute has international repute and will be a wonderful addition to your resume.

You can browse and compare a list of available Masters courses in Ireland on the FindAMasters website.

You can also find further information on what a Masters study in Ireland looks like on our website.

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