Provost welcomes TCD arts ranking

TRINITY COLLEGE Dublin retains a world-class capacity in the arts and humanities, its provost has said.

Dr John Hegarty said its ranking as 52nd-best university in the world for arts and humanities was a “heady position” given other universities’ resources.

TCD’s score for arts and humanities is the highest it received in the recent QS World University Rankings, which saw it slip down the rankings from 41st to 52nd.

Dr Hegarty, who is in his last year as provost, said its new Arts and Humanities Research Institute, known as the Trinity Long Room Hub, was an “iconic” building in one of the most culturally sensitive areas in Dublin.

The hub, which opened yesterday, is located near to TCD’s historic centre. It cost €6 million to build and the construction took a year. It is almost exclusively publicly funded from the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions.

The four-storey building will house the schools of drama, film and music, English and history among others.

It has dedicated facilities for 44 PhD students and 35 visiting fellows. It has a digitalisation suite for the post-production of the college’s digitised library collections and two conference rooms.

Dr Hegarty said Trinity’s reputation in the arts and humanities had been built up over centuries and the new hub was a “bold move”.

“This development reflects the fundamental belief in the power of the arts and humanities to advance and enrich society at every level,” he said.

Junior Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation Conor Lenihan said the universities survey, which saw both TCD and UCD slip down the ranks, was disappointing. He added: “We are determined to continue with the spending and the reform of our third-level sector. We have tripled the amount of money we have spent on science research and development.”