World class universities
Queen’s University Belfast 
Founded in 1845 as Queen's College, one of three established in Ireland by Queen Victoria, Queen's became a university in 1908. It is one of the Ivy League of UK universities, acknowledging its role as a world-class centre of excellence in research and education. It is investing more than £250 million in students, staff and infrastructure. The investment will enhance the university’s world-class standing and includes a new £45 million library, a student village and £20 million in sport and at the Students’ Union.
It has received four Queen's Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education – for world-class achievement in green chemistry, environmental research, palaeoecology and law. The university's new Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology is developing innovative cancer treatments and pioneering advances in patient care.
Innovation in the curriculum is an institutional priority, as underlined by the recent establishment of three Centres of Excellence in Teaching and Learning. The university’s reputation as a leading provider of medical education in the United Kingdom and Ireland was enhanced by an increase of more than 30% in the number of student places in medicine in September 2005.
The university is at the centre of Northern Ireland's cultural life. It stages the Belfast Festival at Queen’s, one of the largest arts festivals in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is also home to the award-winning Queen’s Film Theatre, and the Naughton Gallery, Northern Ireland's newest museum.
A leading player in wealth and job creation in Northern Ireland, Queen's currently has 43 high value, high technology spin out companies employing more than 750 staff and generating some £50 million a year in export sales.
ECIT – the university’s Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology – is a symbol of Northern Ireland’s emergence as a centre of excellence in advanced digital technology. ECIT matches groundbreaking research with wealth creating business opportunities.
University of Ulster
With campuses in Belfast, Coleraine, Jordanstown, and Londonderry the University of Ulster caters for some 26,350 students.
The Belfast campus, part of the city's up and coming Cathedral Quarter, is traditionally viewed as the home of the School of Art and Design. The campus is currently being modernised as part of a £30 million development programme that will transform this site into a major landmark for the city.
Situated on the north, coast the Coleraine campus is the administrative headquarters for the university. The Jordanstown campus is located a few miles north of Belfast and is home to the Sports Institute for Northern Ireland and has excellent facilities for recreational and more serious sporting activities. A £6.7 million Learning Resource Centre offers hi-tech learning and studying facilities.
At the Magee campus, in Londonderry, student numbers have been rising steadily across the range of undergraduate courses, due in part to unique opportunities to mix and match disciplines at undergraduate level. To meet the growing demand to study at Magee, new facilities have been steadily introduced, including studios, laboratories and workshops and a new Learning Resource Centre. The former Foyle Arts Centre is now home to the Centre for Creative and Performing Arts. Courses include nursing, social sciences, performing arts, law, business, computing, psychology and international studies.
