Study in Ireland: Trinity College Dublin, UCD, NUI Galway, DCU – Your Complete Guide 2026

A Saturday morning in Dublin, early October. You walk through Temple Bar – vibrantly colored pubs, each vibrating with a different melody of traditional Irish folk, even at this hour. You turn onto Dame Street, pass a group of students with 3fe coffee cups (the best roastery in town) standing in the middle of the pavement, and suddenly the stone gate of Trinity College rises before you. Two steps and the Dublin bustle disappears. The cobbled Front Square, the Georgian campanile, the dark green lawns. In the Old Library, on the upper floor of the Long Room – one of the most beautiful libraries on Earth – lies the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript from the 9th century. On the other side of campus, in the Hamilton Building, computer science students are returning from workshops at the ADAPT Centre, where Google presented a new NLP research project yesterday. You leave Trinity, walk fifteen minutes south, and stand before Meta’s European headquarters on Grand Canal Dock. Another fifteen minutes west – Apple in Hollyhill. Further still – Stripe, LinkedIn, Salesforce.

It’s no coincidence that all these companies chose Dublin. Ireland is the only fully English-speaking country in the European Union – and for an EU high school graduate looking for English-taught studies without visas, without absurd tuition fees, and with direct access to Europe’s largest tech ecosystem, this is an option that should be at the very top of your list. Tuition fees for EU citizens? €3,000–€7,000 per year – several times less than in the UK. Visa? You don’t need one – you’re an EU citizen, you have full rights to study, work, and reside from day one. Right to work? Without any time restrictions – while students in the UK can work a maximum of 20 hours a week, in Ireland you can work as much as you want.

In this guide, I will walk you through the entire Irish system: from recruitment via CAO and the conversion of the Polish Matura exam, through the four best universities (Trinity College Dublin, UCD, NUI Galway, DCU), study and living costs, scholarships, and career prospects in Dublin’s tech hub. If you’re looking for a detailed guide to Trinity itself, read our dedicated article on TCD. And if you want to compare Ireland with other European options – check what SAT score you need for studies in Europe.

Why Ireland? English-speaking + EU = a unique combination

After Brexit in 2020, Ireland became the only country in the European Union where English is an official and everyday language. This changed the game for EU high school graduates. Previously, if you wanted to study in English in Europe, you had a choice of the UK (expensive, visa), the Netherlands (English-taught programs, but Dutch is the everyday language), Scandinavia (English-taught programs, but local languages dominate off-campus), or, more recently, an increasing number of programs in Belgium and Germany. Ireland combines the best features of all these options: full English-speaking environment in daily life, EU status with citizen rights, affordable tuition fees, and one of Europe’s strongest job markets.

What exactly does EU status mean for an EU student in Ireland? Firstly, you don’t need a visa – a valid ID card or passport is sufficient. Secondly, you pay EU tuition fees (€3,000–€7,000 per year instead of €20,000–€55,000 paid by non-EU students). Thirdly, you have a full right to work without any restrictions – there’s no hour limit, no separate work permit. Compare this to the UK, where EU students after Brexit need a student visa (costing 490+ GBP), pay domestic tuition fees (9,250 GBP, and for many programs 15,000–30,000 GBP for international students), and can work a maximum of 20 hours a week. Fourthly, the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) gives you access to the Irish HSE health system without additional insurance. In the UK, you would pay an immigration health surcharge of 1,035 GBP annually.

Dublin is Europe’s tech capital – not in the future, not potentially, but now. The European headquarters of Google, Meta, Apple, Microsoft, LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), Salesforce, Stripe, HubSpot, Indeed, and hundreds of other tech companies are located in Dublin Docklands, Silicon Docks, and the surrounding areas. Ireland’s corporate tax rate (12.5%, one of the lowest in the EU) has attracted virtually every global tech company here. For a graduate of an Irish university, this means something very specific: you are at the heart of an ecosystem where companies are constantly looking for talent. Many students start part-time work at these companies as early as their second year of studies.

The CAO System – how Irish admissions work

Admissions to Irish public universities are handled through the CAO (Central Applications Office), a central system that in some ways resembles the British UCAS, but is simpler and more predictable. In one application form, you can indicate up to 10 undergraduate programs (Level 8) and up to 10 sub-degree programs, at various universities across Ireland. The application fee is minimal: €30 for an early application (by January 20), €45 for a standard application (by February 1), and €60 for a late application (by March 1).

The Irish system is based on CAO points, a maximum of 625 from the six best subjects of the Leaving Certificate (the Irish high school leaving exam). Universities award places in order of points: if you need 554 points for Computer Science at Trinity, and you have 560, you get in. Simple and transparent.

How does this work for an EU high school graduate? Your Polish Matura exam (the Polish high school leaving exam) is converted to CAO points according to official conversion tables. The system considers your six best results from advanced and basic level subjects. An advanced Matura exam score of 90%+ yields the highest points, equivalent to an Irish H1. Details of the conversion can be found in our guide to converting the Polish Matura exam to foreign systems.

Alternatively, if you take SAT + AP Exams, Irish universities accept them as an entry qualification. Trinity College Dublin expects an SAT score of ~1300+ in combination with 3–4 AP exams with a score of 4–5. UCD is more flexible – it accepts SAT scores from 1000 to 1400 depending on the program. Prepare for the SAT at okiro.io, and read more about SAT requirements in Europe in our dedicated guide.

Step-by-step Admissions – what an EU high school graduate needs to know

The CAO admissions process is much simpler than the British UCAS or the Dutch Studielink. There is no personal statement (at least not for most programs), no interviews (except for medicine and a few other fields), and no teacher references. The system is essentially purely point-based; your grades determine admission. This is good news for EU high school graduates, as it eliminates subjective assessment elements and relies on solid results.

Step-by-step:

1. Create an account on cao.ie. As an EU candidate, select the “EU non-Irish” option. You’ll need an email address and personal details.
2. Choose up to 10 Level 8 programs – rank them in order of preference. You can mix universities: Trinity as first preference, UCD as second, NUI Galway as third.
3. Submit documents: your officially translated Matura exam certificate (Polish high school leaving exam) and high school diploma.
4. Attach a language certificate: IELTS Academic 6.5 (Trinity, UCD) or TOEFL iBT 90+. Prepare with prepclass.io, which offers full practice tests with AI feedback.
5. Pay the fee – €30–€60 depending on the deadline.
6. Wait for point conversion and offers – results are announced in August.

Important note: in the CAO system, you receive an offer for only one program, the highest preference for which your points are sufficient. If your first preference is Computer Science at Trinity (requiring ~554 CAO points), and your second is Computer Science at UCD (requiring ~500 points), and you have 520, you will receive an offer for UCD, not Trinity. The system is automatic and fair.

Irish universities require an English language certificate. Standard minimum requirements are IELTS Academic 6.5 (with no section below 6.0) or TOEFL iBT 90. This is a slightly lower threshold than at some British universities (UCL requires 6.5–7.5 IELTS). More about the differences between TOEFL and IELTS can be found in our comparison of both exams.

Four Universities, Four Personalities – which Irish university is for you?

Ireland has eight main universities, but four of them are particularly interesting for EU high school graduates: Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, NUI Galway (University of Galway), and Dublin City University. Each has a distinct character and different strengths.

Trinity College Dublin – top 100 in the world, heart of Dublin

Trinity College Dublin is undoubtedly the best university in Ireland and the only Irish university in the world’s top 100 (QS #81). Founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I, TCD is the only Irish member of LERU (League of European Research Universities), an elite group including Oxford, Cambridge, ETH Zurich, and Sorbonne. Alumni include Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett (Nobel laureate), Ernest Walton (Nobel laureate, physics, the first person to split the atom), Mary Robinson (first female President of Ireland), and thousands of leaders in science, law, and business.

Trinity’s campus is literally in the center of Dublin, on College Green, the city’s main square. This means that the European headquarters of Google (Barrow Street, 10 minutes walk), Meta (Grand Canal Square, 12 minutes), and dozens of other tech companies are within walking distance. TCD is particularly strong in Computer Science (ADAPT Centre, collaboration with Google and IBM), Law, Medicine, Humanities, and Business (Trinity Business School, AACSB, EQUIS, and AMBA accreditation, Triple Crown). EU tuition fees are ~€3,000 per year for most programs, making Trinity one of the best value-for-money universities in the world.

University College Dublin (UCD) – largest, broadest, Belfield

UCD is the largest university in Ireland, with over 35,000 students on its modern Belfield campus in south Dublin (300 acres of greenery, sports fields, sports center, its own lake). In the QS rankings, UCD is placed in the top 150 worldwide and is clearly Ireland’s second university. UCD is more versatile than Trinity, offering a broader range of programs, from classic Arts & Humanities to veterinary medicine, architecture, and food science.

Smurfit Graduate Business School (part of UCD) is one of Europe’s best business schools, top 50 in the Financial Times ranking. The Actuarial & Financial Studies program is the only one of its kind in Ireland and boasts a phenomenal employment rate. UCD is also a leader in Law (Ireland’s largest law faculty), Veterinary Medicine (the only accredited program in the country), and Engineering. EU tuition fees: €3,000–€7,000 per year. UCD has slightly lower point thresholds than Trinity, making it a more accessible option, but “more accessible” doesn’t mean worse. It’s simply a larger university with a broader offering.

NUI Galway (University of Galway) – west coast, student atmosphere

The University of Galway is a university that attracts students with something Dublin cannot offer: a truly student-centric city. Galway has about 85,000 inhabitants, of which over 18,000 are students, meaning one in five people on the street is a student. The city thrives on music (the Galway International Arts Festival is one of Europe’s largest), has a beautiful west coast (Connemara, Cliffs of Moher within an hour’s drive), and an atmosphere that is both intimate and cosmopolitan.

Academically, Galway ranks in the top 250 QS and is particularly strong in Marine Sciences (Ireland’s only marine research institute), Biomedicine, Engineering, and Computer Science. CAO point thresholds are significantly lower than in Dublin – Engineering requires ~410 points (vs 554 at Trinity), and Arts ~310. For an EU high school graduate with solid, though not top, results, Galway offers a real path to a reputable Irish university with living costs 30–40% lower than in Dublin. A room in a shared apartment? €400–€700 per month instead of Dublin’s €700–€1,200.

Dublin City University (DCU) – young, innovative, practical

DCU is a relatively young university (founded in 1975, university status since 1989), but that’s what makes it different from the rest. DCU doesn’t have Trinity’s centuries-old tradition; instead, it has an innovative, industry-oriented education model with a mandatory INTRA (internship) on most programs. DCU students enter the job market with professional experience, giving them an advantage.

DCU is a leader in Communications and Media (Ireland’s best journalism school), IT, Education (the only university in Ireland with a dedicated institute of education – DCU Institute of Education), and Biotechnology. The campus in north Dublin is modern, well-equipped, and smaller than UCD (which creates a more intimate atmosphere). EU tuition fees: €3,000–€6,000 per year. CAO thresholds are lower than at Trinity and UCD, and the INTRA system ensures that DCU graduates have some of the highest employment rates in Ireland.

Study and Living Costs – what Ireland really costs

Let’s start with the good news: tuition fees in Ireland for EU citizens are among the lowest in Western Europe. As an EU citizen who has lived in the EU/EEA for at least 3 of the last 5 years (and as an EU citizen, you automatically meet this condition), you qualify for the EU fee rate. For most programs, this means €3,000–€7,000 per year. Medicine is more expensive, starting from €16,000 at Trinity, but this is still a fraction of what non-EU students pay (€20,000–€55,000).

Compare this to the UK: Imperial College London costs over 38,000 GBP annually for EU students (post-Brexit), UCL costs 25,000–38,000 GBP. Even in the Netherlands, where tuition is lower than in the UK, you’ll pay €2,300–€4,000 at the University of Amsterdam or Maastricht. Ireland is competitively priced, and for universities in the world’s top 100.

Where’s the catch? In the cost of living in Dublin. Let’s be honest, Dublin is expensive. The housing crisis in Ireland is one of the most serious in Europe, and rental prices in the capital have been rising for years. But living costs outside Dublin – in Galway, Limerick, Cork – are significantly lower, and studying there still leads to excellent career prospects.

A realistic monthly budget for a student in Dublin looks like this. Accommodation is by far the largest expense: €700–€1,200 for a room in a shared apartment in the city center or €500–€900 in university accommodation (if you manage to get a place – always apply as early as possible!). Food: €250–€400 per month; cooking at home is much cheaper, Aldi and Lidl are your best friends. Transport: €100–€150 with a Student Leap Card, which gives discounts on buses, trams (Luas), and DART rail. Other expenses (phone, entertainment, clothes): €150–€250. Total: €1,200–€2,000 per month in Dublin, €750–€1,300 outside Dublin.

Converting to approximate EUR: the annual cost of studying at Trinity (tuition + living) is approximately €18,000–€21,500 – a lot, but compare it to LSE (€40,900 annually) or the University of Edinburgh (€31,800). At NUI Galway, the annual cost drops to €13,600–€15,900.

Scholarships and Work – how to finance your studies in Ireland

Ireland does not have a system as generous as the Danish SU (CBS offers €860 per month for part-time work), but it has other advantages – primarily the unlimited right to work for EU citizens.

University Scholarships

Trinity College Dublin offers several scholarship programs: Entrance Exhibitions (automatic scholarships for outstanding results – top 25% of first-year students), Scholars (a prestigious program for students after their first year, with free on-campus accommodation and tuition fee exemption), and Non-EU Scholarship Fund (not applicable to EU citizens, as we have the EU rate). UCD has the Ad Astra Scholarship for outstanding students (up to €5,000 per year + mentoring program). DCU offers the DCU Scholarship for top international applicants. NUI Galway has a Merit Scholarships program with tuition fee reduction.

External Scholarships

EU students can apply for scholarships from NAWA (the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange) and the Kościuszko Foundation (a US-based foundation supporting Polish-American educational and cultural exchange). The Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme can co-finance short trips. It’s also worth checking local Irish grants – the Government of Ireland Scholarship (for master’s and doctoral studies) is one of the most prestigious.

Working while studying – your biggest asset

Here, Ireland truly shines compared to the UK. As an EU citizen, you can work without any restrictions, as many hours as you want, for whomever you want. The Irish minimum hourly wage is €12.70 (2025), which is one of the highest in Europe. Working 15 hours a week, you earn approximately €760 net per month, which covers a significant portion of living costs.

Dublin is ideal for student work: cafes (3fe, Bewley’s), restaurants, shops, but also tech companies. Google, Meta, Apple, Microsoft, and Salesforce regularly hire students for part-time and internship positions. Trinity and UCD have well-developed career services that help with job searching. Many Polish students in Dublin work in the tech sector from their second year of studies, starting with customer support and QA, and progressing to engineering internships in their third and fourth years.

Student Life – Dublin, Galway, and Irish Culture

Ireland is a country that captivates with its culture, people, and atmosphere in a way that cannot be fully described – it must be experienced. Dublin is a city where history intersects with modernity at every corner. In the morning, you drink a flat white in a cafe on Capel Street (Dublin’s best street according to Time Out), at noon you sit in a lecture in a 19th-century stone building, in the afternoon you do an internship in a glass Google office on Grand Canal Dock, and in the evening you play pool at Dice Bar or listen to traditional Irish folk at The Cobblestone on Smithfield Square.

Temple Bar – the quarter between Dame Street and the River Liffey – is a place every tourist knows, but students treat it with a certain distance (expensive beer, tourist prices). The real student Dublin is in the neighborhoods around the campuses: Rathmines and Ranelagh (near Trinity and UCD), Drumcondra (near DCU), Portobello (canal, cafes, tranquility). Dublin’s transport system – buses, Luas trams, and DART rail along the coast – is not perfect, but with a Student Leap Card, it’s affordable.

Galway is a completely different story. A city that lives and breathes music – in every pub someone plays the fiddle, in every park someone sings. Shop Street and Quay Street are the heart of the city – pedestrian streets with buskers, restaurants, and pubs that seem to have existed forever. NUI Galway students love this city for its scale (everything within walking distance), for the west coast (trips to Connemara, Aran Islands, Cliffs of Moher), and for an atmosphere that is warm, open, and authentically Irish. Galway is less cosmopolitan than Dublin, but more “Irish” – if you want to immerse yourself in the culture, not just the tech ecosystem, Galway is an ideal choice.

Irish sport is a world unto itself. The GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) organizes competitions in hurling (the fastest field game in the world, imagine a mix of hockey, lacrosse, and baseball) and Gaelic football. Every university has GAA teams, and inter-university matches attract crowds. This is a phenomenal way to get to know Irish culture from the inside. Rugby and football are equally popular, and universities have extensive leagues and sports clubs.

The Polish community in Ireland is one of the largest in Europe, with over 140,000 Poles living permanently in Ireland, making Poles one of the largest minorities in the country. This means Polish shops, Polish parishes, Polish dentists, and Polish students you’ll meet at every university. You won’t be alone.

Career Prospects – Dublin as a gateway to tech

Ireland has an unemployment rate below 5% (one of the lowest in the EU) and one of the fastest-growing job markets in Europe. For graduates of Irish universities, especially in computer science, business, engineering, and natural sciences, prospects are excellent.

Dublin Docklands, known as Silicon Docks, is home to the European headquarters of Google, Meta, Amazon, LinkedIn, X, Salesforce, HubSpot, Stripe, Workday, Indeed, and hundreds of other tech companies. These are not symbolic offices – Google employs over 8,000 people in Dublin, Meta over 3,000, and Apple has over 6,000 employees in Cork and Dublin combined. For a Trinity or UCD graduate with a degree in Computer Science, Business, or Engineering, the path to these companies is short and well-trodden.

The Irish pharmaceutical sector is equally strong; Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, MSD (Merck), AbbVie, Boston Scientific all have large production and research centers in Ireland. Graduates of science programs (chemistry, biology, biotechnology, chemical engineering) find work in this sector almost immediately, especially from universities like NUI Galway and UCD, which have strong programs in these fields.

As an EU citizen, you do not need any additional work permit in Ireland after graduation – you can stay as long as you want and work without restrictions. Non-EU students benefit from the Third Level Graduate Scheme (the “Stay Back” option) – 1 year after a bachelor’s, 2 years after a master’s – but as an EU citizen, you automatically have better conditions.

If you plan a career in consulting, McKinsey, BCG, Deloitte, and Accenture have offices in Dublin and actively recruit from Trinity and UCD. The financial sector (Bank of Ireland, AIB, Davy, KPMG, EY, PwC) is equally active on campuses.

Frequently Asked Questions

Summary – why Ireland should be on your list

Ireland is an option that, after Brexit, has become absolutely unique: the only English-speaking country in the EU, with tuition fees at €3,000–€7,000 per year, no visa required, full right to work, and Dublin, Europe’s tech capital, right outside your window. If you’re looking for English-taught studies in Europe and don’t want to pay UK prices or deal with UK visa bureaucracy, Ireland is the most sensible choice you can make.

Trinity College Dublin (QS #81) is the choice for the ambitious – top 100 worldwide, campus in Dublin city center, tuition ~€3,000. UCD is the largest and most versatile university with slightly lower thresholds. NUI Galway is an ideal option for those who want a student city, lower living costs, and Ireland’s west coast. DCU is an innovative university with a mandatory internship and a practical approach to education.

Next Steps

1. Check your chances – convert your Matura exam results to CAO points. Our guide to Matura conversion will help you with this.
2. Take IELTS or TOEFL – the minimum requirement is IELTS 6.5 or TOEFL 90. Prepare with prepclass.io – full practice tests with AI feedback.
3. Consider the SAT – if your Matura exam results don’t yield enough CAO points, SAT + AP can be an alternative entry path. Practice at okiro.io.
4. Submit your application on cao.ie – by February 1 (€45) or by January 20 for €30. Choose up to 10 programs.
5. Plan your finances – calculate costs, check scholarships (NAWA, Ad Astra, Entrance Exhibitions), find part-time work in Dublin.
6. Read detailed guides – Trinity College Dublin, study in the UK, study in the Netherlands.

Ireland awaits. And Dublin, with its pubs, tech hub, stone campuses, and rain that makes every moment of sunshine taste twice as sweet, is a city where studying becomes the adventure of a lifetime.