University College Dublin (UCD) is Ireland’s largest university, and ranked within the top 1% of higher education institutions in the world. UCD prides itself on promoting international engagement, which is reflected in the fact that 27% of its students are international. Central to this international profile is UCD’s engagement with the European public sphere.
Through its School of Politics and International Relations (SPIRe), and the Dublin European Institute (DEI), UCD has developed an internationally recognised teaching and research profile in European studies, with a particular focus on the political economy of Europe. It coordinates 3 major interdisciplinary master's programs: an MEconSc in European Public Affairs and Law; an Msc in European Politics and Policy; and a joint double Msc degree with the University of Utrecht in European Governance.
The DEI is the oldest and largest university centre for research on European politics in the Republic of Ireland. It was established in 1990 as the Centre of European Economic and Public Affairs (CEEPA), which in 1998 was designated a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence by the European Commission. Two years later, CEEPA was replaced by the Dublin European Institute within the University's Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies. The DEI has been part of the UCD School of Politics and International Relations since 2005. After 2008, and during the financial crisis, the DEI was wound down. However, it remained a vibrant network for EU scholars in UCD to cooperate and develop partnerships for grant applications.
In 2018, the DEI was once again designated a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence by the European Commission. Our new focus is to develop a Centre of Excellence in the “New Political Economy of Europe” (NPEE). Our mission is to ask difficult questions about the future of European integration (see research themes), and to turn UCD into global centre for research in European political economy, whilst creating a Euro-Irish hub for research and teaching on the new challenges facing the European political economy.
