Ireland is reknowned throughout the world for having an excellent education system and some of the best universities in the world. Of these, many are located in Dublin or its surrounding areas. After deciding to study in Ireland, the first step is to decide on a course to apply for. There are hundreds of courses to choose from in many different universities and colleges in the city. We have listed a few of the most popular below as well as links to their homepages and a brief description...

• Trinity College Dublin - Trinity is Ireland's oldest and most famous university. It is located in the city centre and probably the most difficult university to get into.
• University College Dublin - UCD is the university with the largest student population in the country. It has a broad prospectus and is located in Belfield, about 15 mins by bus from the city centre.
• Dublin City University - DCU is the newest and probably the most modern of the universities in Dublin, Specailising in Business, Science and Engineering it is located in Glasnevin, about 25 mins by bus from the city centre.
• Dublin Institute of Technology - The DIT's are a number of colleges joined together as institutes of technology. It also has a broad prospectus and has colleges based all over the city.
• Institute of Technology Tallaght - IT Tallaght is one of the newer IT's to pop up in the city. It was recently promoted from being a Regional Technical College and has mostly Technology and Business courses.

These are only a few of the colleges in the city, for more information on the courses offered by these and other colleges you can visit Careers World and use their Course Finder Assistant. On this page you can put in the parameters you want and search all the colleges in the area selected. For Dublin colleges select the Leinster Region.

Once you have selected the course or courses required, the next step is applying. To do this you need to apply to the Central Applications Office or CAO. The CAO is an independent non-profit company that was set up to accept and process applications to higher level education establishments in Ireland. To apply you must complete their application form and pay the application fee. You can Click Here for the online application form, and Here for the latest fees. The closing date for applications is usually the start of February for EU students and the middle of January for Non-EU applications.

The final step is actually moving to Dublin. Before arriving you can arrange accommodation by visiting one of the many accommodation sites. One we recommend is the DAFT guide. This can be a great site to find accommodation(both renting and sharing), the only problem is that you can't see the accommodation before you book. So what is often the better option is to stay in a hotel or hostel for a few nights first while you arrange something more permanent. You can book your hostel or hotel online here in our accommodation section. Once you have arrived then and have temporary accommodation, you can then use daft or local newspapers to find somewhere that you like.