The university where the Irish poet and playwright Seamus Heaney studied has built a creative writing centre named in his honour. The Seamus Heaney Centre opened on University Road in 2024, housing a permanent exhibition on the Nobel prize in literature winner, and a large venue area and spaces for students to work. Celebrated alumni include the former first minister David Trimble (another Nobel prizewinner, for peace), the actor Liam Neeson and the radio DJ Annie Mac. 

Its more recent graduates have been blazing a trail too. Queen’s moved up to tenth in the UK for graduate prospects last year and holds the same spot in the 2025 edition, based on results from the latest Graduate Outcomes survey, showing that 87.1 per cent of its undergraduates had found high-skilled jobs or were engaged in postgraduate study 15 months after finishing their degrees. 

What is Queen’s University Belfast’s reputation? 

Queen’s was one of only four university colleges in Ireland in the 19th century. The university charter has guaranteed student representation, equal rights for women and nondenominational teaching since 1908. Hillary Clinton, the former US secretary of state, is its 11th and first female chancellor. A five-place ascent of our academic league table is driven in part by much improved rates of student satisfaction. Results of the National Student Survey put it 45th for undergraduates’ evaluation of the student experience (up from 74=) and 75th for their feelings about the teaching quality (up 19 places).

The Russell Group university won a seventh Queen’s Anniversary prize for higher education in 2020 for its pioneering work to facilitate collaboration between schools of different faiths.

Queen’s and University College Dublin signed a memorandum of understanding in 2022 to enhance cooperation in research and innovation in areas of mutual strength, and Queen’s is involved in 43 of the 62 projects to be funded by the Irish government’s €37.3 million North-South Research Programme.

In the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021) Queen’s submissions in agriculture, food and veterinary science; health and biomedical sciences; law; and engineering produced the best results. Overall, the university is 35th in our research quality rating.

A centre for the Global Institute of Educational Excellence will open from September 2025. Civic responsibility and economic prosperity are among the pillars of the university’s strategy for the decade. Queen’s plays a leading role in the Belfast Region City Deal, a 15-year programme to boost growth, and it has been awarded more than £170 million from the UK government and Northern Ireland Executive to develop three innovation centres in areas including advanced manufacturing, clinical research, and secure, connected digital technologies.

Investments in its historic estate under the Queen’s Future Campus strategy and a gradual move towards online assessments — where students sit papers in person but submit them electronically — may give undergraduate contentment a future boost. 

What degree courses have been discontinued and what new courses are available?

Queen’s is not closing any degrees in 2024 or 2025. The first civil engineering higher level apprentices have begun courses, as have those on a new degree in finance and risk management. The university is recruiting for its education studies degree, and its first students will begin in 2025.

What are Queen’s University Belfast’s entry requirements — and my chances of getting in? 

Entry grades range from BCC for nursing and midwifery degrees to A*AA for medicine and for actuarial science with risk management. Students who meet widening participation criteria are eligible for the Pathways Opportunity Programme, which undercuts a conditional offer by up to two grades. 

The demand for places at Queen’s reached another record in the 2023 admissions cycle, when almost 30,000 applied to it. The number of international students has more than doubled over the past decade, although Northern Irish students remain the biggest cohort. 

What are the graduate prospects?

The university nurtures links with business and industry partners to create opportunities for internships, placements and graduate roles. Its employer engagement team meets with core industry recruiters four times a year to ensure that its courses are dovetailing with the needs of industry and that their aims align on students’ skills development. The university also offers “real world” challenges set by employers and a week of work shadowing.  

What is the Queen’s University Belfast campus like?

Queen’s has invested £350 million over the past ten years in its historic campus on the south side of the city. The student centre and students’ union opened in 2022, followed by the £2.5 million MediaLab facility. The £50 million McClay Library is another standout feature, with computing and media services, IT training rooms, a café, a language centre and quiet study and group work areas. Students also have access to specialist facilities such as a financial trading room with Bloomberg Terminals at Queen’s Business School.

Everything you need to know about Queen’s University Belfast’s student life and wellbeing support

The Physical Education Centre has a 25m swimming pool and a diving pool, four fitness and weights areas, eight squash courts, and three five-a-side 3G pitches. Outdoor facilities at Upper Malone include two stadium pitches, 16 floodlit grass and synthetic playing surfaces and a £1.2 million international-standard hockey pitch. There is also a boathouse on the River Lagan and a cottage for climbers in the Mourne Mountains. 

There are close to 200 student clubs and societies, so plenty of opportunities for undergraduates to find like-minded people. The campus is a 15-minute walk to Belfast city centre and its nightlife, but the social scene is mainly based at and around the students’ union, which forms part of the £42 million One Elmwood student centre. The arts are well supported on campus, where there is an arthouse cinema, a gallery and a studio theatre as well as the new writing centre.

Students are offered free counselling sessions through local services and support is available from the university’s team of disability and wellbeing advisers.

What do the students say?

“Belfast is really having a moment. The city is not only easy to navigate and safe, it also has lots to experience — from quirky museums and green spaces to fun student nights. Our state-of-the-art students’ union is amazing. We were ranked No 1 for student satisfaction from 108 SUs globally in the International Student Barometer. There’s always something happening to get involved in.”
Beth Elder, students’ union president

What about student accommodation at Queen’s University Belfast?

Rent costs are more attractive here than at many other locations in the UK, starting at £85 a week for a small standard room. First-years are guaranteed accommodation as long as they meet the deadline at the end of June. The university is preparing to build Northern Ireland’s first Passivhaus low-carbon student accommodation.

How diverse and inclusive is Queen’s University Belfast?

Most undergraduates come from Northern Ireland, two thirds from grammar schools, which educate a much larger proportion of the province’s population than elsewhere in the UK. This is why we cannot include the Northern Ireland universities in our social inclusion index. 

Queen’s has been stepping up its outreach efforts to attract disadvantaged students and redoubling its research links with universities in the Republic of Ireland.

Everything you need to know about scholarships and bursaries at Queen’s University Belfast

About three in ten undergraduates receive some form of financial support.