The University of Limerick (UL) (Irish: Ollscoil Luimnigh) is a higher education institution in Limerick, Ireland. Founded in 1972 as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it became a university in 1989 in accordance with the University of Limerick Act 1989. It was the first university established since Irish independence in 1922, followed by the establishment of Dublin City University later the same day.
UL’s campus lies along both sides of the River Shannon, on a 137.5-hectare (340-acre) site with 46 hectares (110 acres) on the north bank and 91.5 hectares (226 acres) on the south bank, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from the city centre. It has over 11,000 full-time undergraduate students, including over 2,400 international students, and 1,500 part-time students. There are over 800 research postgraduates and 1,300 postgraduate students receiving instruction at the university. Its co-operative education (“co-op”) programme offers students an eight-month work placement as part of their degree; it was Ireland’s first such programme.
Following founding president Edward M. Walsh, Roger GH Downer, John O’Connor, Don Barry and Des Fitzgerald were presidents of UL from 1998 to August 2020. The current, interim, president is Professor Kerstin Mey.
Faculty
The university has four faculties:
- Kemmy Business School (Scoil Ghnó Kemmy)
- Faculty of Education and Health Sciences (including the Graduate Medical School)
- Faculty of Science and Engineering
- Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Two colleges are linked to the university: Mary Immaculate College and MIC, St. Patrick’s Campus, Thurles.
Kemmy Business School has four academic departments, which are Accounting & Finance, Economics, Management & Marketing, and Personnel & Employment Relations. The school’s courses include accounting, finance, economics, marketing, and risk management among other courses. The Kemmy Business School is the first European university to have a custom-designed campus trading floor, which uses the trading software Bloomberg Professional. Through the Kemmy school, students have the option of completing the Bloomberg certification. Named after the former mayor of Limerick, Jim Kemmy, the business school has both undergraduate and postgraduate courses on offer.