A total of 736 academic staff currently hold tenure in UCD according to information received by the Tribune in a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

If a member of staff receives tenure it means that they have guaranteed permanent employment. Their tenure will come up for review every 5 or 7 years however it’s unusual for tenure to be revoked unless a serious complaint has been made against the staff member.

There is a high number of tenured staff within the science programme with 31 tenured staff in the School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, 29 in the School of Computer Science, 20 in the School of Physics and 17 in the School of Chemistry.

The School of Medicine has the highest number of tenured staff with a total of 64 with the School of Business in second with 57 and the School of Agriculture and Food Science in third with 44.  

The UCD Energy Institute, UCD Humanities Institute, Teaching and Learning, Central Office – College of Arts and Humanities, Central Office – College of Health and Agricultural Sciences, Centre for American Studies, College of Science Administration Office and College of Engineering  and Architecture Administration Office all have the lowest amount of tenured staff with just one staff member each.

Arts Schools tend to have lower amounts of tenured staff with just 6 tenured staff in the School of Classics and 7 in the School of Art History and Cultural policy compared with 29 in the School of Maths and Statistics. The School of English, Drama and Film has the highest number of tenured staff within the Arts programme with 28, higher than the School of Law who have 26 tenured staff.  


Rachel O’Neill – Editor