Irish colleges outside top 50 for finance courses
IF you want to make a career in finance, Irish universities are not the place to do it, according to a new report.
The latest QS Top Universities ranking for careers in accounting and finance shows no Irish university in the top 50, with Trinity the highest ranked at 55.
University College Dublin came in at 61 while Queens University Belfast is the only other university ranked on the island in the top 100 at number 70.
The schools are ranked by a number of criteria including academic results, appeal to prospective employers and the level of citations.
An overall score out of 100 is then calculated.
The college rankings are in contrast with Ireland's favourable position as a European financial centre.
Higher ranked colleges include the University of Birmingham, University of Canterbury in New Zealand and University of Western Australia.
The rankings are headed by Harvard in the US followed by Oxford, Cambridge and the London School of Economics.
The findings may give support to calls from business leaders for Ireland to concentrate its dwindling resources on a small number of top class colleges instead of the current system of regional third-level colleges around the country.
It's not all bad news for Ireland however, as QS has listed Dublin as the eighth-best student city, equal with Berlin.
The report is based on 12 criteria and takes into account the "quality and number of internationally ranked universities, alongside factors such as affordability, quality of living and the reputation of local universities among employers".
Dublin is ranked beside Berlin while Paris tops the table. Six European cities are in the top 10.
The QS world rankings are considered one of the benchmark university rankings, and have not been kind to Irish third-level institutions in recent years.
- Peter Flanagan
Irish Independent
