DUBLIN’S TRINITY COLLEGE has ranked 101st in the QS World University Rankings.

The university saw a rise in academic reputation but a decline in global scores associated with staff-student ratios, where all Irish universities struggle to do well.

The rankings, which provide a comparative analysis on the performance of universities this year features 1,300 institutions, a 10% increase from last year.

The best university in the world, for a tenth consecutive year, is Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) which earned perfect scores across the research and the employability indicator.

University of Oxford in England came in second, followed by Stanford in the US, The University of Cambridge in the UK, Harvard University and California Institute of Technology in sixth place.

University College Dublin (UCD) saw an increase in its ranking, from 177th last year to 173rd this year. The University of Limerick also placed higher this year, moving up to the 501st-510th group in the rankings.

NUI Galway is now ranked 258th, University College Cork (UCC) is ranked 298th, Dublin City University (DCU) is 490th, Maynooth University is in the 751-800th band and the Technological University Dublin placed in the 801-1000th band.

Speaking after the rankings were announced this evening, Trinity College Provost Dr Patrick Prendergast, said:

“We are pleased to see Trinity retaining its position as Ireland’s leading university in the QS World University Rankings. After an enormously challenging year, this ranking makes me proud of our excellent students and faculty, whose scholarship and achievements are critical to our continued success at a global level.

Trinity scored particularly well on academic reputation, reflecting the success of the entire College community in prioritising excellence in research. We would have performed even better were it not for the relatively high staff-student ratios common in Irish institutions.

“I know the Government has plans to invest more in third level education and I hope that this issue will slowly be resolved.”