Trinity College Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin
Seal of University
Data
Established 1592 by Elizabeth I
Location Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Enrolment 15,000 (3,800 postgrad)
Alumni 65,000
Provost John Hegarty
Chancellor Mary Robinson
Address College Green
Dublin 2
Ireland
Phone +353-1-6081000
Homepage http://www.tcd.ie
Member of Coimbra Group, EUA
Map
Image:CoDublinCity.png
Dublin in Ireland

Trinity College, Dublin (TCD), founded in 1592 by Elizabeth I, is the only constituent college of the University of Dublin, Ireland's oldest university - the college and university are often referred to collectively as the University of Dublin, Trinity College. Trinity is located on College Green in Dublin, opposite the former Irish Houses of Parliament, now known as the Bank of Ireland, being a branch of the bank of that name. The campus occupies 47 acres (190,000 m²), with many attractive buildings, both old and new, centered around large courts and two playing fields.

For all intents and purposes the college and university are essentially one. The main exception to this is the conferring of degrees; the college provides all the programmes and academic staff are members of it, but the university confers the degree.

Contents

History

The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin was founded by Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth I in 1592. The Corporation of Dublin granted the new university the lands of All Hallows monastery, a mile to the south east of the city walls. Trinity College is today in the very centre of Dublin, as the city has moved eastwards.

During its early life, Trinity was a university exclusively for the Protestant ascendency class of Dublin. Following the first steps of Catholic Emancipation, Roman Catholics were first admitted in 1793 (prior to Cambridge and Oxford, incidentally Trinity was modelled on them), though until well into the twentieth century they had to obtain the permission of the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin to take up a place if they wished to avoid excommunication. In 1873 all religious tests were abolished, except for Divinity. Women were admitted to Trinity College for the first time in 1904. The first woman professor was appointed in 1934.


Location

Trinity is an unusual university as it is centered in a capital city, but still retains a strong campus atmosphere. This is in large part due to the compact design of the campus: the main buildings look inwards, and there are a small number of public gates. Student numbers increased during the 1980s and 1990s, with total enrolment more than doubling in size, and leading to pressure on resources. Students can be housed either on campus, or in Dartry four kilometers to the south of the city campus mostly for first years.

Mergers

In the late 1960s there was a proposal for University College Dublin to become the second constituent college of a newly reconstituted "University of Dublin". This plan, suggested by Brian Lenihan and Donagh O'Malley, was dropped after mass opposition by Trinity students.

Since 1975 the colleges which now form Dublin Institute of Technology had their degrees conferred by the University of Dublin, this situation continued until 1998 and a merger was considered by the institute, but never seriously by the university.

However, it is generally agreed that a merger with either of the institutions would have overwhelmed Trinity itself.

A more detailed history: History of Trinity College (Trinity Website) (http://www.tcd.ie/Visitors/tcd_hist.html).

Academic

Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin

Typically an undergraduate is awarded an ordinary Bachelor in Arts after three years study before an additional year to be awarded an honours bachelor degree in their chosen specialism, thus requiring a total of four years study. Furthermore, bachelors who have had their degrees for at least three years may pay a nominal fee to have the Master in Arts degree conferred on them. This is closer to the Scottish model than the English; most other Irish universities award Bachelor of Arts after three years of study, though other bachelor degrees such as dentistry, engineering, medicine or science usually take longer. In recent years, students have been offered a broader range of courses, outside of their major field of study. As a result, the pedagogy has moved a little closer to the North American than the British university model. In addition to academic degrees the college offers the Postgraduate Diploma.

Trinity's six faculties:

  • Arts (Humanities)
  • Arts (Letters)
  • Business, Economic & Social Studies
  • Engineering & Systems Sciences
  • Health Sciences
  • Science

Governance

The University is headed, titularly, by the Chancellor, currently former Irish president and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson. The College is headed by the Provost, currently John Hegarty. The college is officially incorporated as The Provost, Fellows and Scholars of the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin

The governance of Trinity was changed in 2000, by the Irish Government, in a bill introduced by the Board of Trinity: The Trinity College, Dublin (Charters and Letters Patent Amendment) Act, 2000. This was introduced separately from the Universities Act 1997. This states that the Board shall comprise:

  • The Provost, Vice-Provost, Senior Lecturer, Registrar and Bursar;
  • Six Fellows;
  • Five members of the academic staff who are not Fellows at least three of whom must be of a rank not higher than senior lecturer;
  • Two members of the academic staff of the rank of professor;
  • Three members of the non-academic staff;
  • Four students of the College at least one of whom shall be a post-graduate student;
  • One member not being an employee or student of the College chosen by a committee of the Board which shall comprise the Provost and two members of the Board from among nominations made by such organisations as are representative of such business or professional interest as the Board considers appropriate;
  • One member appointed by the Board on the nomination of the Minister for Education and Science following consultation with the Provost.

The Library

The Library of Trinity College is a deposit library the largest research library in Ireland. It is entitled legally to a copy of every book published in Britain and Ireland, and contains 4.25 million books. The Book of Kells, the Library's most famous book can be seen in the Long Room of the old Library. It is also believed that the Jedi Archives in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones was inspired by the Long Room[1] (http://www.coppit.org/homepage/gallery/ireland-jun_2000/longroom). There are reports that Trinity is considering legal action (note that the left image is NOT from the film as is implied) (http://www.irish-architecture.com/onsite/jedi_archives/).

Notable Alumni

See also

External Links


Universities of Ireland
Republic of Ireland: Dublin City University | National University of Ireland | University of Dublin | University of Limerick
NUI Constituent Universities: Cork | Dublin | Galway | Maynooth
Northern Ireland: Queen's University of Belfast | University of Ulster
QUB University Colleges: St Mary's | Stranmillis
Other degree awarding authorities in Ireland
Dublin Institute of Technology | Higher Education and Training Awards Council | Pontifical University of Maynooth | Presbyterian Theological Faculty Ireland


Coimbra Group
(of European research universities)		 Coimbra Group
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