Maynooth University

Welcome to Maynooth University, a research university of international standing and a scholarly community of over 11,000 students and 800 staff. Maynooth University is a thriving research enterprise, a vibrant and exciting place to learn, and importantly, is a university that places equal value on research and teaching. We are an engaged university with extensive research and teaching partnerships with enterprise, public bodies, civil society and community organisations. We are conscious at all times that our work as an academic institution is at the service of scholarship, students and society.

Maynooth University is a diverse and international community: people come from many different backgrounds and countries to work together, learning with and from each other, and bringing an intellectual and cultural vibrancy to the university and the region.

Whether you are a prospective student or staff member, a current student or staff member, a graduate, parent, visitor or friend, or an academic or institutional partner, I invite you enjoy and be part of the unique, collaborative and collegial academic experience that is Maynooth University.

Maynooth University is a very distinctive university, a collegial institution strongly focused on the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences, and equally committed to research, teaching and engagement. Its distinctive features and character owe much to its unique history and heritage. Maynooth University was formally established as an autonomous university as recently as 1997, yet traces its origins to the foundation of the Royal College of St. Patrick in 1795, making it, simultaneously, Ireland’s youngest university and one of its oldest educational institutions founded in 1795 as a seminary for the education of priests, and by 1850 had become the largest seminary in the world. For 200 years before that, Irish Catholic priests had been educated in the Irish colleges in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and the Netherlands as, under the Penal Laws, it would have been illegal to educate them at home.
A number of factors paved the way for the establishment of Maynooth College. The French Revolution had confiscated the Irish Colleges in France. Enlightenment thinking, and the fact that Britain was at war with France led the government seeking to appease Irish Catholics by relaxing the Penal Laws. At the same time, both the Irish bishops and the English government feared that Irish priests might be influenced by the ‘contagion of sedition and infidelity’ of the French revolution. The bishops asked permission to endow ‘academies or seminaries’ for the education of candidates for the priesthood. Their political advisers persuaded them to extend the project to include laymen, and so the Irish parliament passed an ‘Act for the Better Education of Persons professing the Popish or Roman Catholic Religion’ which lead to the foundation of Maynooth College in 1795. Among the first staff at the College were a number of French scholars who were refugees from the Revolution. Lay students were admitted in 1800, but the lay college survived only until 1817.

The Strategic Plan sets out the direction of the University and its contribution to education and research until 2017 and focuses on key areas such as a radical enhancement of undergraduate education, developing centres of excellence for research, doubling international student mobility and collaborating with other institutions domestically and internationally.Developing new subject combinations across the sciences, social sciences and humanities to prepare graduates for emerging roles in the economy and society, Ensuring students are highly competent in their own subject areas, but also giving students structured opportunities to broaden their education so they can appreciate different perspectives and operate in interdisciplinary teams, A strong emphasis on the important intellectual skills of reflection, analysis, critical thinking and problem-solving.

Maynooth University will consolidate its international reputation as a university known for outstanding teaching, excellent research, its global outlook, effective engagement with the society it serves, and its distinctive approach to the challenges facing modern higher education.

Maynooth University will further enhance its international reputation for:

• The exceptional and distinctive education it offers to students;
• The quality and impact of its research and scholarship;
• The connection between its research and teaching;
• The diversity of its student body and the quality of its student experience;
• The global scope of teaching and research;
• Effective engagement with enterprise, the community, civil society and the state;
• Commitment to excellence, innovation and collegiality;
• Its unique and collaborative contribution to the national system of higher education and to the economic, social and cultural life of the region, the nation and the world

Maynooth University has established seven strategic goals for the period 2012–2017, To offer students an outstanding university education, the best available in Ireland, an education which challenges and supports all students to achieve their full potential, and prepares students for life, work and citizenship, and for complexity, diversity and change. To be recognised by 2017 as playing a leading international role and being the clear national leader in a number of thematic areas of research that address the major societal challenges of the 21st century. To achieve a step change in international activities, doubling the number of international students on campus and doubling the number of domestic students spending time abroad, in order to create a truly intercultural and multilingual institution. To strengthen engagement with all stakeholders through sustained partnerships with enterprises, communities, civil society and public bodies, to build support for the mission of the university, to serve the needs of society, and to open new opportunities for research and learning. To maximise its unique and distinctive contribution to the national system of higher education through a set of purposeful and sustained strategic partnerships at regional and national level, and to extend its international reach through a network of global partnerships. To be an excellent place to work, known for a collegial ethos which empowers all staff to contribute fully to the development of the university. To enable the achievement of ambitious strategic objectives in challenging circumstances through careful planning, excellent services and infrastructure, and sound governance and management.