University College Dublin has played an outstanding role in the education and building up of a nation and the preservation of its cultural heritage. UCD continues to be a university dedicated to the acquisition, advancement, communication and application of knowledge at the highest level. It is characterised by an uncompromising quest for excellence, captured in its motto, Ad Astra. Hand in hand with this, and inspired by its second motto, Comhthrom F�inne, goes a commitment to making the benefits of university education available to ever-greater numbers. 

UCD will fulfil this role by recruiting the brightest intellects from Ireland and elsewhere as students, teachers and researchers. This University possesses the largest and most richly diversified concentration of cultural, scientific and technological expertise in the country. This expertise is currently spread across 10 faculties, with over 80 individual disciplines contributing to specific aspects of Ireland's development, both through traditional channels and the innovative development and delivery of new courses and programmes. 

This diversity, underpinned by our strong quality review processes has emphasised the need for a more seamless integration of faculty planning processes with University planning processes. This greater integration and cohesion will be a feature of future planning cycles.

It has been a consistent aim of the University to have all faculties sited on the Belfield campus. The transfer of Veterinary Medicine will take place in the autumn of 2002; it is hoped that the process will be completed shortly thereafter with the relocation of the Faculty of Medicine and the Departments of Civil and Agricultural Engineering from Earlsfort Terrace to Belfield. The face of UCD is changing on a planned basis, the plan is big, the changes are big. UCD is expecting to incur capital expenditure of over � 7 million per month for much of the period of this strategic plan.

UCD will recruit and support the quality researchers and teachers who will make up a university characterised by internationally recognised excellence. What we strive for are the highest standards of teaching and research in a university environment that is both student and faculty friendly. All of our Faculties and Departments aim unambiguously to be number 1 in Ireland with the University as a whole aiming to be among the top 30 universities in Europe. Success will be built on the passionate commitment of individual academics, departments, faculties and support staff, working together towards our shared objectives.

We have reflected on the words of UCD's founding President, Cardinal John Henry Newman, who reminds us that "To live is to change, to be perfect is to have changed often". Through the process of strategic planning, we are creating a culture that recognises the need to change often. This culture will support the innovative teachers and researchers who create new knowledge and develop new ways of applying and disseminating that knowledge. Irish society is itself changing at a rapidly increasing pace. Responding appropriately to that change will be central to our planning process going forward.

Our Strategic Development Plan draws and builds upon a rich heritage while providing a structure to allow us to create, manage, plan for change and so further enhance our leading role as we enter the 21st century. 

Dr. Art Cosgrove.
President

Please click here to view or download complete UCD Strategic Development Plan 2001 - 2004 (Microsoft Word Format).