Since its establishment in 1845, NUI Galway has developed a strong tradition of research and scholarship within an academic environment that emphasises the student experience. From an initial intake of 63 students in 1849, NUI Galway is now a thriving community of 17,000 students, of which over 2,000 are international students, representing some 92 countries across the globe. NUI Galway is a leading international, research-intensive university, ranked among the top 250 universities in the world. Many of NUI Galway’s alumni and academics have become leaders in their fields in Ireland and far beyond, including physicist, George Johnstone Stoney, who discovered and named the electron; Alice Perry, the first woman engineer in the world; many leaders in political and public life, including President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins; writers and actors, John McGahern, Thomas Kilroy and the founders of the renowned Druid Theatre Company.

The J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics at NUI Galway has grown rapidly in recent years to over 2,100 undergraduate and postgraduate students and a teaching staff of over 60 spread across the Disciplines of Accountancy and Finance, Business Information Systems, Economics, Management and Marketing. The School has built a reputation for teaching and research excellence, confirmed by external quality evaluations and accreditations (including AMBA, EPAS and CIPD), as well as wide-ranging exemptions for major accounting bodies. The School offers a wide range of programmes, from undergraduate degrees to executive education, tailored to deliver the specific professional skills required to succeed in a globalised and competitive environment. The School’s outstanding faculty are recognised as experts in their field by practitioners and by other academics, and its ambitious and motivated students come from over 40 countries. The School’s graduates are highly employable and many of its 14,000+ commerce, business and management alumni have become leaders in their fields.