Queen's University of Belfast

Queen's University, Belfast (QUB) - or officially Queen's University of Belfast - is a university in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The university was originally part of the Queen's University of Ireland created to encourage higher education for Catholics as a counterpart to the Protestant Trinity College, Dublin. The university offers academic degrees at various levels and across several faculties including those in dentistry, engineering, humanities, law and medicine.

History

The university has its roots in the Belfast Academical Institution, founded in 1810, whilst the university was established as a college in 1845 as the Queen's College, Belfast when it was associated with what was then Queen's College, Cork and Queen's College, Galway as part of Queen's University of Ireland (1850) and later Royal University of Ireland (1880). The Irish Universities Act, 1908 dissolved the Royal University of Ireland and created two separate universities - the current National University of Ireland and Queen's University of Belfast.

A more detailed history: A History (QUB Website) (http://www.qub.ac.uk/home/TheUniversity/AboutQueens/HistoryofQueens/)

Notable Alumni

Notable alumni include Lord Kelvin, whose statue stands at the entrance to the Botanic Gardens next to the university; John Edward Campbell, mathematician, academic and co-developer of the Campbell-Baker-Hausdorff Theorem, David Trimble, former First Minister of Northern Ireland and Nobel Prize winner; Mary McAleese, the current President of Ireland, the Nobel Prize winning poet Seamus Heaney; and Lord Hutton, former British Law Lord and Chair of the Hutton Inquiry.

Constituent Colleges & Other Bodies

The Lanyon Building designed by the Belfast architect Sir Charles Lanyon

In addition to the main campus in the centre of Belfast, the university has two associated university colleges, these being St Mary's and Stranmillis both also located in Belfast. Although offering a range of degree courses, these colleges primarily provide training for those wishing to enter the teaching profession.

The university also has formal agreements with other colleges in Northern Ireland and operates several outreach schemes to rural areas, the most successful of which is the university's at Armagh, the Armagh Campus (http://www.armagh.qub.ac.uk).

Located close to the main campus is the Institute of Professional Legal Studies at Queen's which offers training to law graduates to enable them to practice as solicitors or barristers in Northern Ireland, England & Wales and in the Republic of Ireland. Addmission to the Institute is highly competetive and depends on the graduate's overall academic standing and their performance in an unseen written exam. Most practicing lawyers in Northern Ireland are graduates of the Institute as it is known. Notable alumni include Lord Hutton, the retired British Law Lord, and many of the Queen's Counsels who practice out of the Bar Library in central Belfast.

Reputation

Independent league tables published by The Times newspaper in 2004 placed Queen's in the top-ten of all United Kingdom universities for subjects including dentistry, law, engineering, celtic studies and physics.

See also

• Education in Northern Ireland
• List of universities in Northern Ireland

External links

• Queen's University, Belfast (http://www.qub.ac.uk)