Danny O'Hare became director in 1977, and presided over the institution, then based at Mount Street in central Dublin, for the next 22 years.

This Unit manages online courses and degree programmes offered to Irish residents and students around the world through DCU Connected.

m. of buildings, north of central Glasnevin, DCU ALPHA is home to 35 companies employing 350 staff who are developing products in connected health, clean energy and Internet of Things (IoT) technology.

The grounds, including a sports field at the rear, of the former St Patrick's Teaching Training College in central Drumcondra, north of the River Tolka, form a distinct campus.

[citation needed] Retail facilities include six restaurants and two bars, a Londis[19] store, pharmacy,[20] barber shop, Students' Union Shop, Bank of Ireland,[21] Xerox reprographic centre,[22] Hodges Figgis[23] bookshop, and a beauty salon[24] in the sports centre.

The collection includes works by artists such as Louis le Brocquy, Cecil King, Patrick Scott, Michael Warren, Stephen Lawlor, Brian Bourke, Victor Sloan, Barrie Cooke and William Crozier.

It also hosts the Irish arm of the US-based National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), which helps young people from poorer backgrounds to build skills and unlock creativity.

The DCU Ryan Academy, established during the presidency of Ferdinand von Prondzynski and funded by the family of the late entrepreneur Dr Tony Ryan, promotes entrepreneurship and innovation, delivering short courses on a wide range of topics from Social Enterprise Development to Foresight and Future Trends.

As of 2020[update], the Chancellor of Dublin City University is Martin McAleese (2011-2016, 2016–2021), who was preceded by Ireland's former EU Commissioner and Attorney General, David Byrne (2006-2011).

The NIDL also manages the design and delivery of a growing suite of free online courses (i.e., MOOCs) through Ireland's Open Learning Academy.

[citation needed] DCU awards degrees in Business Studies and International Finance and Marketing, Innovation and Technology in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in partnership with Princess Nora bint Abdul Rahman University.

[58] It is a member of the IReL (Irish Research E-Library) consortium, allowing staff and students full access to over 100 online academic databases.

[67] The Cregan Library on the Saint Patrick's campus opened in 2015, costing €50 million, replacing previous facilities nearby.

[75] In 2002, the Labour Court recommended that this statute be rewritten [76] and this has been followed by long-running negotiations between the university and the trade union representing staff, SIPTU; In 2008 a vote organised by SIPTU led to a majority (of the admittedly very small number of staff who voted) declaring no confidence in the management of the university in its conduct of these negotiations.

[80] During the hearing in 2009 there was significant emphasis on statements made by the lecturer in his blog throughout 2009, which were deemed by the President, Professor Ferdinand von Prondzynski, and others to be highly defamatory.

The composition of the student body represents every county on the island of Ireland and over seventy countries worldwide, spread across all six continents.

[89][90][91] Societies and Clubs receive financial support from a proportion of capitation fees and are governed solely by student committees.

Its flagship shows are Newswire, “Limelight” and Action Replay, while additional programming is introduced for special events such as national budgets, or DCU SU and Dáil elections.

[100][101][102][103] Newswire won the National Student Media Award for best news and current affairs radio programme for the fourth year in a row in April 2013.

The College Park Apartments consist of 93 units, each with four or five en-suite bedrooms and a shared living, kitchen and dining area.

Membership of the Sports Academy entitles those selected to special scholarships and supports worth up to €10,000 each including on-campus accommodation, financial support towards college books and tuition fees, personal tuition, access to key national and international competitions, physiotherapy and massage, sports nutrition advice and high-performance education talks and workshops.

[136][137][138] Shortly after the appointment in 2000 of the then-new president, Ferdinand von Prondzynski, DCU adopted what was described as a highly innovative strategic plan, 'Leading Change'.

[142][143] Under its strategic plan, 'Leadership through Foresight' (2005), DCU committed itself to collaboration with national and international organisations and universities on technology and research projects.

[citation needed] The AIC Adaptive Information Cluster[144] with University College Dublin is one such initiative has been based on computer and sensor technology to develop advanced applications in several areas.

The two universities also collaborate on the Odysseus undergraduate Computer Science Internship Programme[146] and on the Clarity Centre for Sensor Web Technologies.

DCU also collaborates with the National Institute for Bioprocessing, Research and Training (NIBRT) its main partners are UCD, TCD and Sligo IT.

The Programme for Research on Grid-enabled Computational Physics of Natural Phenomena[160] is a wide partnership with Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, National University of Ireland, Galway, University College Dublin, HEAnet, Met Éireann, Armagh Observatory and Grid Ireland.

The experimental ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) power station will be built at Cadarache in the South of France and is the result of an international collaboration[166] involving the European Union (represented by EURATOM), Japan, China, India, the Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States.

Dublin City University is the lead partner in this Irish research through Irish Fusion Association under the National Centre for Plasma Science and Technology[167] with 10 more University College Cork scientists taking part in the project as well under the auspices of Association Euratom DCU,[168] which was established in 1996.

[170][171] The School of Computing collaborates on research with large multinational corporations and institutions like Google,[172] Microsoft,[173] the US Military,[174] IBM, Samsung and Xerox.