Maynooth is roughly one-quarter of the size of UCD and is also the only Irish university not located in a major city. Its pastoral setting gives it more in common with American university institutions than those in Ireland, while its size allows a degree of collegiality among staff and students which may have been lost in some of the larger institutions.

The college says 5,000 represents an ideal student population; the figure is now in the region of 4,600. "In terms of scale, you are looking at the university ideal as it still exists," says Dr Tom McCarthy, dean of postgraduate studies and senior lecturer in economics. "We're the only university that conforms to the idea that everything in the university should reside in one physical location."

About 65 per cent of the student body is female; Maynooth also has a higher percentage of students from blue-collar backgrounds than the other universities. It also reserves a higher percentage of places for disadvantaged students than either DCU or UCD.

Some 25 per cent of its student population is made up of postgraduates, 30 per cent higher than the target set by the Higher Education Authority's working group on the future of higher education.