[10] The Tudor Gothic quadrangle and early campus buildings were designed and built by Sir Thomas Deane and Benjamin Woodward.

[3] Student numbers, at over 24,000 in 2022,[3] increased from the late 1980s, precipitating the expansion of the campus by the acquisition of adjacent buildings and lands.

This expansion continued with the opening of the Alfred O'Rahilly building in the late 1990s, the Cavanagh Pharmacy building, the Brookfield Health Sciences centre, the extended Áras na MacLéinn (Devere Hall), the Lewis Glucksman Gallery in 2004, Experience UCC (Visitors' Centre) and an extension to the Boole Library – named for the first professor of mathematics at UCC, George Boole, who developed the algebra that would later make computer programming possible.

Since 1986, 2.5 tonnes of uranium rods had been stored in the basement of the UCC physics department, for use in a sub critical assembly (SCA) for research and training purposes.

The uranium was originally given to Ireland by the US as part of the Atoms for Peace programme, however, due to public opposition, the reactor was disassembled during the 1980s.

[30] The Sunday Times "Good University Guide 2015", put UCC at the top of their rankings for "research income per academic".

[33] In 2009, Professor of Mathematics at UCC, Des McHale, challenged the university's decision to allow embryonic stem cell research.

[34] According to the results of a poll conducted by irishhealth.com, almost two in three people supported the decision made by University College Cork to allow embryonic stem cell research.

[35] In 2016, Professor Noel Caplice, director of the centre for research in Vascular Biology at UCC and a cardiologist at Cork University Hospital, announced a "major breakthrough in the field of blood vessel replacement".

[36] The university has a number of related companies including: Cytrea, which is involved in pharmaceutical formulations;[37] Firecomms, an ICT company concentrating on optical communications;[38] Alimentary Health a biotech healthcare company;[39] Biosensia who develop integrated micro-system analytical chips;[40] Sensl, part of ON Semiconductor; Luxcel which is involved in the development of probes and sensors;[41] and Optical Metrology Innovations which develops laser metrology systems.

Recent spinouts from the college include pharmaceutical company Glantreo,[44] Luxcel Biosciences,[45] Alimentary Health, Biosensia, Firecoms, Gourmet Marine, Keelvar, Lee Oncology, and Sensl.

[46] In 2015, the university marked the bicentenary of mathematician, philosopher and logician George Boole - UCC's first professor of mathematics.

[50] In November 2017, UCC's MSc Information Systems for Business Performance (ISBP) was named "Postgraduate Course of the Year - IT" at the gradireland Higher Education Awards in Dublin.

[9] Also in 2015, the CWTS Leiden Ranking placed UCC 1st in Ireland, 16th in Europe and 52nd globally from a field of 750 universities.

[62] Medicine, Arts, and Law were the three founding faculties when Queen's College Cork opened its doors to students in 1849.

[63] UCC School of Medicine is part of the College of Medicine and Health, and is based at the Brookfield Health Sciences Centre on the main UCC campus and is affiliated with the 1000-bed University College Cork Teaching Hospital, which is the largest medical centre in Ireland.

[64][65] The College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences (CACSSS) incorporates a number of schools.

[86] In early March 2020, a spokesperson for the university said the increase was necessary due to refurbishment works, and a rise in security and maintenance costs.

[90] In 2023, whilst studying there, Diana Vicezar launched a podcast covering the experiences of Hispanic and Latin-American students in Ireland.

In arts and literature,[92] alumni include novelist Seán Ó Faoláin, short-story writer Daniel Corkery, film director John Crowley, composers Aloys Fleischmann, Seán Ó Riada, musicologist Ita Beausang, musician Julie Feeney, author, academic and critic Robert Anthony Welch, actors Fiona Shaw and Siobhán McSweeney, novelist and poet William Wall, poets Paul Durcan, John Mee,[93] Liam Ó Muirthile,[94] Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Trevor Joyce, Thomas McCarthy, Theo Dorgan,[95] and Greg Delanty, singer SEARLS, comedian Des Bishop,[96] and journalists Brendan O'Connor,[97] Ian Bailey,[98] Samantha Barry,[99] Stefanie Preissner[100] and Eoghan Harris.

[101] Actor Cillian Murphy and BBC presenter Graham Norton both attended UCC but did not graduate.

[102][103] From the business community, alumni include Kerry Group's Denis Brosnan,[104] Kingfisher plc's former CEO Gerry Murphy,[104] former heads of CRH Anthony Barry and Myles Lee.

[107] In mathematics alumni include Irish mathematicians Seán Dineen, an expert in complex analysis, and Des MacHale, a leading researcher on George Boole.

[111] André Ventura, founder of the Portuguese political party Chega, attended UCC as a graduate student.

[citation needed] Bishop of Kerry, Raymond Browne, holds a science degree from UCC.

[citation needed] In sport, rugby coach Declan Kidney,[114] Gaelic footballers Séamus Moynihan, Maurice Fitzgerald and Billy Morgan, hurlers Pat Heffernan, Joe Deane, James "Cha" Fitzpatrick and Ray Cummins, rugby players Edwin Edogbo,[115] Moss Keane, Ronan O'Gara and Donnacha Ryan, and Olympian Lizzie Lee have all attended UCC.