The Higher Education Minister insists the government's investment plans should lead to improved rankings for Irish universities.
It's after Trinity College Dublin was ranked 98th in the world, the only Irish facility in the top 100.
The 2023 QS survey showed UCD in 181st place and UCC in 303rd.
Minister Simon Harris says there were mixed fortunes for Irish third level institutions:
"DCU are up very significantly. I think the biggest level of improvement that has been seen by DCU, I want to congratulate them and to Technological University of Dublin for maintaining its place. But you are right, it is very much a mixed bag. We have seen Trinity break into the first top 100, that's brilliant but we have seen others slip back and you know, the reason is there. The reason is that we do need to get on with implementing the plans that we've outlined in recent weeks because what these international rankings look at is things like the amount you put into research, they look at things like academic citations."
