National University of Ireland, Maynooth
The National University of Ireland, Maynooth, was founded by the Universities Act, 1997 as a constituent university of the National University of Ireland. It is Ireland's second oldest university, having been formed from St Patrick's College, Maynooth, itself founded in 1795.The university is located in the town of Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland, 20Â km west of Dublin. Its grounds consists of two connected campuses; an older south campus of 19th century buildings, shared with St Patrick's College, and a modern north campus, occupying circa. With over 14,500 registered students, it is Ireland's smallest, yet fastest growing university. In 2009, NUI Maynooth was listed as a Top500 university in the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings. The 2011 QS World University Rankings puts NUIM in the 501-550 bracket worldwide. In 2008 it was named Sunday Times University of the Year. In 2011, NUI Maynooth became the first and only institution outside of North America to be included in the Princeton Review of Best Colleges.History18th and 19th centuriesThe university and St Patrick's College, Maynooth have a common history from 1795 to 1997. The college in Maynooth was established by the government as a college for Catholic lay and ecclesiastical students in 1795, the lay college was based from 1802 in Riverstown House on the south campus, with the opening of Clongowes Wood, the lay college which had lay trustees was closed in 1817 and it functioned solely as a Catholic seminary for almost 150 years. In 1876 the college became a constituent college of the Catholic University of Ireland, and later offered Royal University of Ireland degrees in arts and science. The Pontifical Charter was granted to the college in 1896.
