People need lots of different information about studying at UCC. You may be completing your second level education and are seeking information about degree programmes for next year for school leavers. You may be completing Junior Cycle and need information about what subjects to choose next year.

Perhaps you finished school some time ago and are contemplating returning to education as a Full Time Undergraduate or as a Life Long Learner. Or perhaps you wish to study at UCC as an International Student or a Postgraduate student. Whatever you need, we hope that this site will provide you with the information that you need to help you to make a good choice regarding your future education. 

UCC was established in 1845 as one of three Queen’s Colleges at Cork, Galway and Belfast.  The site chosen for the college is particularly appropriate given its connection with the patron saint of Cork, St Finbarr.  It is believed his monastery and school stood on the bank of the river Lee, which runs through the lower grounds of the university.  The University’s motto is  ‘Where Finbarr Taught, let Munster Learn.’

On November 7th 1849, Queen’s College Cork opened its doors to a privileged section of the youth of Munster (115 students in that first session, 1849-’50) after a glittering inaugural ceremony in the Aula Maxima which, the newspapers remarked, already looked mellow though just completed, and which is still the symbolic and ceremonial heart of the college.

The limestone buildings of the Main Quadrangle were designed by the gifted architectural partnership of Thomas Deane and Benjamin Woodword.  The style has been variously described as perpendicular Gothic, Tudor Gothic or Victorian Gothic.  The north wing of the Main Quadrangle  houses UCC’s unique collection of Ogham Stones, thought to be burial stones or boundary markers.   The inscriptions are the earliest written source of the Irish language and the oldest recordings or Irish personal names,  dating back to the mid fifth and late seventh centuries.

Sir Robert Kane, distinguished industrial scientist and first president of the college, passionately defended the ‘mixed education’ non-denominational principle against the charge of “godlessness”, emphasising the built-in provisions for respecting religious beliefs and even for promoting religious practice.

UCC today:

University College Cork is situated in south-west Ireland and was founded as a Queen’s College in 1845. The university has 16,000 full-time students. 13,000 are undergraduate students while 3,000 are on postgraduate programmes. UCC’s diverse student-body includes 2,000 international students representing 80-plus countries worldwide. In addition, the university’s Centre for Adult Continuing Education has 2,000 students. 2,800 people work at UCC including more than 800 faculty.

UCC is one of the leading research institutions in the State and its research income is consistently one of the highest in the country. The university offers a research-led curriculum that attracts the highest calibre of students. The university has over 120 degree and professional programmes given through some 60 departments.

Courses were offered in the faculties of arts, (comprising literature and science), medicine, law and in the schools of engineering (civil and mechanical) and agriculture.  Students paid college fees, but also class fees, directly to their professors and lecturers.  Popular lecturers became wealthy men!

UCC is composed of four Colleges:

• Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences (Faculties of Arts and of Celtic Studies)
• Business and Law (Faculties of Commerce and of Law)
• Medicine and Health (Faculty of Medicine)
• Science, Engineering and Food Science (Faculties of Science, of Engineering, and of Food Science)