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Trinity College Dublin

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For other institutions named Trinity College, see Trinity College.
Trinity College, Dublin
Coláiste na Tríonóide, Baile Átha Cliath
Arms of the College
Latin: Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin
Established1592 by Elizabeth I
ProvostJohn Hegarty
Academic staff
828
Students15,322 (2005/2006)
Address
College Green
Dublin 2
,
Dublin
,
Ireland
AffiliationsDU<br\> Coimbra Group<br\> AMBA
Websitehttp://www.tcd.ie
Seal of the College

Trinity College, Dublin (TCD) (Coláiste na Tríonóide in Irish), corporately designated as the Provost, Fellows and Scholars of the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I[1] as the "mother of a university", and is the only constituent college of the University of Dublin. Trinity and the University of Dublin form Ireland's oldest university.

Trinity is located in the centre of Dublin, Ireland, on College Green opposite the former Irish Houses of Parliament (now a branch of the Bank of Ireland). The campus occupies 47 acres (190,000 m²), with many buildings, both old and new, ranged around large courts (known as "squares") and two playing fields.

The College and the University

Trinity College and the University of Dublin have a complex relationship, and while a "difference or distinction" between the two is often asserted, some consider that they are "one body" - for example, this is one interpretation of the findings of the High Court of Justice of Ireland delivered by the then Master of the Rolls, Andrew Maxwell Porter, on June 2, 1888[2], which reviews a legal history where the two terms seem often to have been used interchangeably. Notably the case in question, which had "the College" and "the University" on opposite sides, created the still-extant Reid Professorship of Law, and vested it in the College, on the basis that the bodies at the heart of the University (the Senate and the Council) did not exist when Reid made his bequest, and because it could not determine when or if the University had been created distinct from TCD.

At the root of the question is that fact, that none of the chartering monarchs, Elizabeth I, Charles I, or George III, created a university distinct from Trinity College - the only structure "erected" by Elizabeth was Trinity College, "mother of a/the University", and its Provost, Fellows and Scholars were the authority recognised by legal documents up to the time of Queen Victoria. The role of Chancellor was also a College role. Notably the Act of Union (Fourth Article, Act of Union of Great Britain and Ireland, effective 1 January 1801) referred to "the University of Trinity College". Queen Victoria did issue Letters Patent in 1857 giving legal foundation to the Senate, and other authorities - but the High Court held in 1888 that these dealt with "not the incorporation of the University of Dublin but of its Senate merely", the judge noting pointedly, referring to the founding of University College Dublin, that "The advisers of Queen Victoria knew how to incorporate a University when they meant to do so"

Reputation

File:Trinity Dublin.jpg
Trinity College, Dublin.

Trinity is one of the seven ancient universities in the English speaking world and the only one outside the present United Kingdom. It is a recognised name worldwide, viewed as one of the world's leading universities, and prides itself on its numerous historic achievements, including the development of the ISBN system[3][4] and being the first university in Europe to award degrees in modern languages[citation needed].

The institution is consistently ranked highest in Ireland on world-wide metrics as provided by certain surveys (whose value is often debated, especially as each focuses on some aspects of third-level operation only).

Rankings

  • Times Higher Education Supplement Global Ranking
78th overall globally[5], 39th for Arts and Humanities globally and only Irish University in the top 200.
  • Financial Times MBA Ranking
70th globally, 1st in Ireland.[6] and 10th for international mobility of graduates and value for money (globally).
  • Shanghai Jiao Tong University Ranking
203rd globally and 1st in Ireland.[7]
  • Whitefield Consulting Worldwide - European MBA Rankings 2007
16th in Europe and 1st in Ireland [8]

Campus and Residences

File:Trinity College Campus.jpg
Trinity College campus.

Trinity retains a strong "campus" atmosphere despite its location in the centre of a capital city (and despite it being one of the most significant tourist attractions in Dublin). This is in large part due to the compact design of the campus, whose main buildings look inwards, and the existence of only a few public entrances. The main campus "island" is approximately 47 acres, including the Trinity College Enterprise Centre nearby, and buildings account for around 200,000 m², ranging from works of historic architecture to state-of-the-art modern facilities.

Trinity's campus contains many buildings of architectural merit, especially from the 18th and 19th centuries. These include the Chapel and Examination Hall designed by Sir William Chambers and the Museum Building designed by the Irish architects Thomas Newenham Deane and Benjamin Woodward.

In addition to the city centre campus, Trinity also incorporates the Faculty of Health Sciences buildings located at St. James's Teaching Hospital and the Adelaide and Meath incorporating the National Children's Hospital, Tallaght. The Trinity Centre at St James's Hospital has recently been completed and incorporates additional teaching rooms as well as the Institute of Molecular Medicine and John Durkan Leukaemia Institute.

Many students are housed on campus, or in Trinity Hall[9] on Dartry Road in Rathmines, four kilometres to the south of the city campus, but large numbers secure accommodation external to the college. Foreign and exchange students are given priority when campus and Trinity Hall places are allocated.

History

The Book of Kells is the most famous of the volumes in the Trinity College Library. Shown here is the Madonna and Child from Kells (folio 7v).
File:Swift-young.jpeg
Jonathan Swift at Trinity
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Bram Stoker
Oscar Wilde

Early History

The first university of Dublin was created by the Pope in 1311[10], and had a Chancellor, lecturers and students (granted protection by the Crown) over many years, before coming to an end at the Reformation.

Following this, and some debate about a new University at St. Patrick's Cathedral, in 1592 a small group of Dublin citizens obtained a charter by way of Letters Patent from Queen Elizabeth (see footnote 1) incorporating Trinity College Dublin at the former site of All Hallows monastery, a mile to the south east of the city walls, provided by the Corporation of Dublin.[11] The first Provost of the College was the Archbishop of Dublin, Adam Loftus, and he was provided with three initial Fellows. Two years after foundation, a few Fellows and students began to work in the new College, which then lay around one small square.

During the following fifty years the community increased and endowments, including considerable landed estates, were secured, new fellowships were founded, the books which formed the foundation of the great library were acquired, a curriculum was devised and statutes were framed. The founding Letters Patent were amended by succeeding monarchs on a number of occasions, such as by James I (1613) and most notably by Charles I (who established the Board - then the Provost and seven senior Fellows - and reduced the panel of Visitors in size) and supplemented as late as the reign of Queen Victoria (and later still amended by the Oireachtas in 2000).

The 18th and 19th Centuries

The eighteenth century was for the most part peaceful in Ireland, and Trinity shared in this calm, though at the beginning of the period a few Jacobites and at its end some political radicals perturbed the College authorities.[citation needed] During this century Trinity was the university of the Protestant Ascendancy. Parliament, meeting on the other side of College Green, made generous grants for building. The first building of this period was the Old Library building, begun in 1712, followed by the Printing House and the Dining Hall. During the second half of the century Parliament Square slowly emerged. The great building drive was completed in the early nineteenth century by Botany Bay, the square which derives its name in part from the herb garden it once contained (and which was succeeded by Trinity's own Botanic Gardens).

The nineteenth century was also marked by important developments in the professional schools. The Law School was reorganised after the middle of the century. Medical teaching had been given in the College since 1711, but it was only after the establishment of the school on a firm basis by legislation in 1800, and under the inspiration of one Macartney, that it was in a position to play its full part, with such teachers as Graves and Stokes, in the great age of Dublin medicine. The Engineering School was established in 1842 and was one of the first of its kind in the British Isles.

The 20th century

Women were admitted to Trinity as full members for the first time in 1904, thus making it the first ancient university in Ireland or Britain to do so.

The School of Commerce was established in 1925, and the School of Social Studies in 1934. Also in 1934, the first female professor was appointed.

In 1962 the School of Commerce and the School of Social Studies amalgamated to form the School of Business and Social Studies. In 1969 the several schools and departments were grouped into Faculties as follows: Arts (Humanities and Letters); Business, Economic and Social Studies; Engineering and Systems Sciences; Health Sciences (since October 1977 all undergraduate teaching in dental science in the Dublin area has been located in Trinity College); Science.

The School of Pharmacy was established in 1977 (until recently, every pharmacy in Ireland had to employee a TCD-qualified pharmacist)and around the same time, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine was transferred to University College, Dublin.

Student numbers increased sharply during the 1980s and 1990s, with total enrolment more than doubling, leading to pressure on resources.

Recent Years

Trinity is today in the very centre of Dublin, as the city has expanded eastwards and continues to grow, and to develop its academic and other activities.

Catholics and Trinity

During its early life, Trinity was exclusively for the Protestant Ascendancy class. Following early steps in Catholic Emancipation, Roman Catholics were first admitted in 1793 (prior to the equivalent change at the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford). In 1873, all religious tests were abolished, except for the Divinity School. However, it was not until 1970 that the Roman Catholic Church, through the Archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid, lifted its policy of disapproval or even excommunication for Roman Catholics who enrolled without special dispensation, at the same time as the Trinity authorities allowed a Roman Catholic chaplain to be based in the college.[1]

Relations and proposed mergers

Trinity College, Dublin is a sister college to Oriel College, University of Oxford and St John's College, University of Cambridge.

From 1975, the Colleges of Technology that now form the Dublin Institute of Technology had their degrees conferred by the University of Dublin. This arrangement was discontinued in 1998 when the DIT obtained degree-granting powers of its own.

Trinity has been subject to several proposed mergers. One of the first proposals was in 1907 when the Chief Secretary for Ireland proposed the reconstitution of the University of Dublin. A Dublin University Defence Committee was created and was successful in campaigning against any change to the status quo, while the Catholic bishops' rejection of the idea ensured its failure among the Catholic population. Chief among the concerns of the bishops was the remains of the Catholic University of Ireland, which would become subsumed into a new university, which on account of Trinity would be part Anglican. Ultimately this episode led to the creation of the National University of Ireland.

In the late 1960s, there was a proposal for University College, Dublin of the National University of Ireland to become a 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.

Trinity People

Amongst the graduates are included notable people in the fields of arts and sciences, they include, Jonathan Swift, Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett (Nobel Laureate poet), Ernest Walton (only Irish Nobel Laureate in Physics), three holders of the office of President of Ireland, and one Premier of New Zealand (Edward Stafford).

Academic

Parliament Square, Trinity College, Dublin.
File:Trinity college front arch.jpg
Front Arch, Trinity College, Dublin. At the main entrance of Trinity College there are statues of Edmund Burke and Oliver Goldsmith, both graduates.

The Trinity academic year is divided into three terms in the same manner as the University of Oxford — Michaelmas term (October, November and December), Hilary term (January, February, March) and Trinity term (March, April, May).

First year students are called Junior Freshmen; second years, Senior Freshmen; third years, Junior Sophisters and fourth years, Senior Sophisters.

Trinity's five Faculties (as at 2007) are as follows, each being headed by one of the Deans (there is also a Dean of Postgraduate Studies):

  • Arts and Humanities
  • Social and Human Sciences
  • Engineering and Systems Sciences
  • Health Sciences
  • Natural Sciences

Below the faculties are the Schools.

Undergraduate

Students at the undergraduate level are usually awarded an honours Bachelor of Arts degree after four years, but in exceptional cases or in some professional subjects such as medicine may receive an ordinary BA after three years' study.

Bachelors who have held their degrees for at least three years may pay a nominal fee (of €543) to have the Master in Arts degree conferred on them, as at Oxbridge.[12]

The four-year degree is closer to the Scottish model than the English, and some describe it as unusual among Irish universities, some of whom award Bachelor of Arts after three years of study, though other bachelor degrees such as business, dentistry, engineering, medicine or science usually take longer. In recent years, students have been offered a limited range of courses outside of their major field of study under a 'broad curriculum' policy.

The Law School awards the LL.B., the LL.B. (ling. franc.) and the LL.B. (ling. germ.). Other degrees include the BAI (engineering), B.Sc.(Pharm) (pharmacy) and BBS (business studies). The BSc degree is not in wide use; most science and computer science students are awarded a BA.

Postgraduate

At postgraduate level, Trinity offers a range of taught and research degrees in all faculties. The multidisciplinary Irish School of Ecumenics provides further opportunities for postgraduate students beyond the major faculties and is a graduate institute focusing on applied research uniting politics, theology, and religion. See below for a full list of research institutes and centres

In addition to academic degrees, the college offers Postgraduate Diploma (non-degree) qualifications.

Admission

Irish school-leavers apply for places under the CAO points system, under which students compete for university places on the basis of the points score awarded for their Leaving Certificate results. Students can also be admitted through the Trinity Access Programme which aims to facilitate the entry of sectors of society which would otherwise be under-represented. The admissions office also have procedures for considering mature and international students' applications. There is high demand for many Trinity courses, so competition can be strong.

Trinity also has formal procedures for admitting applicants on the basis of UK GCE A-level results, which is an important route for entry for students from Northern Ireland.

Awards

Entrance Exhibitions

Students who enter with exceptional Leaving Certificate or other public examination results are awarded an Entrance Exhibition, which entails a prize in the form of book tokens to the value of €254, issued in two equal instalments in each of the Freshman years. [2]

(Foundation) Scholarships

The announcement of new scholars and fellows

Undergraduate students of any year (except Junior Freshmen), but today most often Senior Freshmen, may elect to sit the Foundation Scholarship examination, which takes place in the break between Hilary and Trinity terms. Those who succeed become Foundation Scholars, of whom those from EU member countries are entitled to free rooms, "commons" and fees for the duration of their scholarship, which can last up to five years, while those from non-EU member countries have their fees reduced to EU student levels.

Under the Foundation Charter (of 1592), Scholars were part of the body corporate (three Scholars were named in the charter "in the name of many"). Until 1609 there were about 51 Scholars at any one time. A figure of seventy was permanently fixed in the revising Letters Patent of Charles I in 1637, at which point Trinity Monday was appointed as the day when all future elections to Fellowship and Scholarship would be announced (at this time Trinity Monday was always celebrated on the Monday after the feast of the Holy Trinity). Up to this point all undergraduates were Scholars, but soon after 1637 the practice of admitting students other than Scholars commenced.

Until 1856 only the classical subjects were examined. The questions concerned all the classical authors prescribed for the entrance examination and for the undergraduate course up to the middle of the Junior Sophister year: so there was nothing new for the candidates to read, 'but they had to submit to a very searching examination on the fairly lengthy list of classical texts which they were supposed by this time to have mastered'. The close link with the undergraduate syllabus is underlined by the refusal until 1856 to admit Scholars to the Library (a request for admission was rejected by the Board in 1842 on the grounds that Scholars should stick to their prescribed books and not indulge in 'those desultory habits' that admission to an extensive library would encourage). During the second half of the nineteenth century the content of the examination gradually came to include other disciplines.

Competition for Scholarship has always involved a searching examination, the implication being that successful candidates had to be of exceptional ability. Until relatively recent times the examination was generally taken in the Junior Sophister year, the main justification for this being the inadequate preparation of students on entering the College.

The concept of Scholarship is a valued tradition of the College and many of TCD's most distinguished alumni were elected Scholars (including Samuel Beckett and Ernest Walton). The Scholars' dinner, to which 'Scholars of the decade' are invited, forms one of the major events in Trinity's calendar. A Scholarship at Trinity College is a prestigious undergraduate award; a principal aim of the College (as outlined in the Strategic Plan) is the pursuit of excellence and one of the most tangible demonstrations of this is the institution of Scholarship.

The Library

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The Old Library

The Library of Trinity College is the largest research library in Ireland. As a result of its historic standing, Trinity is a legal deposit library (as per Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003) for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and has a similar standing in Irish law. The college is therefore legally entitled to a copy of every book published in Great Britain and Ireland and consequently receives over 100,000 new items every year. The library contains 4.25 million books, including 30,000 current serials and significant collections of manuscripts, maps, and printed music. Six library facilities are available for general student use.

The €27 million James Ussher Library, opened officially by the President of Ireland in April 2003, is the newest addition to Trinity's library facilities. The eight story 9,500 m² building provides 750 new reader spaces and houses the Glucksman Map Library and Conservation Department.

The Book of Kells is by far the Library's most famous book and is located in the Old Library, along with the Book of Durrow, the Book of Howth and other ancient texts. Also incorporating the Long Room, the Old Library is one of Ireland's biggest tourist attractions, and holds thousands of rare, and in many cases very early, volumes. Though the Book of Kells has been exhibited in other locations, damage caused on a loan in 2000 to an Australian institution has led to a policy of never allowing the book to leave Trinity again.

The look of the Great Jedi library (the Library of Ossus) in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones was inspired by the Long Room; the two are virtually identical in appearance. Trinity considered legal action but the matter was not pursued.[www.archeire.com/news/2002/000238.htm]

In addition to on-campus facilities, Trinity has a major book depository in Santry, from which books are retrieved on request.

Student activities

Clubs

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Dublin University Boat Club racing on the river Liffey

There is a very strong sporting tradition at Trinity and the college has 49 sports clubs affiliated to the Dublin University Central Athletic Club.

The Central Athletic Club is made up of five democratically elected committees that oversee the development of sport in the college: the Executive Committee which is responsible overall for all activities, the Captains' Committee which represents the 49 club captains and awards University Colours (Pinks), the Pavilion Bar Committee which runs the private members' bar, the Pavilion Members' Committee and the Sports Facilities Committee.

The oldest clubs include the Dublin University Cricket Club (1835) and Dublin University Boat Club (1836). Dublin University Football Club which plays rugby football was founded in 1854 and is the world's oldest documented "football club". The Dublin University Hockey Club was founded in 1893. The Dublin University Harriers and Athletic Club was founded in 1885.

There are several graduate sport clubs that exist separate to the Central Athletic Club including the Dublin University Museum Players (cricket), the Lady Elizabeth Boat Club (rowing) and the Mary Lyons Memorial Mallets (croquet).

The largest sports club in the college at the moment is the Surf and Boarding Club which, due to the massive rise in the popularity of the sport in Ireland in recent years, now boasts over 800 members. Regardless of this the club has no base or headquarters in the college, the likes of which are reserved for more traditional sports clubs, irrespective of their comparative sizes.

Publications

Trinity College, Dublin has a very strong tradition of student publications, ranging from the serious to the satirical. All student publications are administered by the Dublin University Publications Committee (often known as 'Pubs') who maintain and administer the Publications room (located in House 6) and all the associated equipment needed to publish its newspapers and magazines.

Trinity News is Ireland's oldest student newspaper having been first printed in 1947[citation needed] and being in regular circulation since 1953. It is currently published on a fortnightly basis producing 12 issues in total during the academic year. The focus is on students with sections including College News, National News, International News, Features, Film, Music, Food and Drink, Science, Sports Features and College Sports (amongst others). The paper has been very successful in the Irish Student Media Awards winning each of the "Newspaper of the Year", "Editor of the Year" and "Journalist of the Year" in the last two years. Currently the position of Editor of Trinity News is a sabbatical one which is widely believed to be a major factor in the newspaper's recent success. The position is held by Gearoid O'Rourke, a SF BESS student, for the coming year.

Student magazines currently in publication include Piranha! ("Private Eye" type satire), the generalist Miscellany (one of Ireland's oldest magazines), the arts-orientated Icarus (magazine) and the recently launched music magazine Analogue. Other publications supported by include the Dublin University Publications Committee include the Student Economic Review, which is a journal produced and organised independently by students of Economics, the Law Review and the Trinity Student Medical Journal as well as The Attic which is a collection of student writing produced by the Dublin University Literary Society and the Afro-Caribbean Journal produced by the Afro-Caribbean Society. Some older titles currently not in publication include Central Review, Trinity Intellectual Times, Harlot, Evoke, and Alternate.

Societies

Main article: List of Trinity College, Dublin student organisations
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The Graduates memorial building

Trinity College has a vibrant student life with 101 societies (in 2007). Student societies operate under the aegis of the Dublin University Central Societies Committee which is composed of the Treasurers of each of the Societies within the College. Society size varies enormously, and it is often hard to determine exact figures for most societies - several claiming to be the largest in the college with thousands of members, while smaller groups may have only 40-50 members. The larger Societies include: the paper-reading society situated in the Graduates' Memorial Building (GMB), the University Philosophical Society (Trinity College, Dublin), more commonly known as "The Phil", and the debating society that shares the building, the College Historical Society, more commonly known as "The Hist", along with the Vincent de Paul Society, which organises a large number of activities in the local community, and the Dublin University Players which is one of the most prolific drama societies in Ireland, hosting up to 50 shows and events a year in its own theatre in the Samuel Beckett Centre. Famous ex-members of Players include the actress and writer Pauline McLynn (Mrs Doyle from Father Ted), and Ian Laurence Byrne esq and Sir Patrick McKeating.

TCD also has a Radio Society known as Trinity FM. It broadcasts from House 6 and offers a variety of student made productions on FM frequency 97.3FM for six weeks a year.

Trinity Ball

Trinity College Dublin during the 2007 ball

The Trinity Ball is Europe’s largest private music party, annually drawing over 6,000 party-goers[3]. It is one of the few great traditions that still form a highlight of Dublin’s social calendar. The Ball is steeped in history and has always had a degree of exclusivity about it. However in recent times the organisation of the Ball has been handed over to event promoters MCD[4] who will hold the contract to run the Ball until 2012. The Trinity Ball 2009 will be the 50th Annual Ball.

Student representation

The Students' Union

The Students' Union's primary role is to provide a recognised representative channel between undergraduates and the University and College authorities. The Executive, the Finance and Services Committee and Sabbatical Officers manage the business and affairs of the Union. The Sabbatical Officers are: The President, Deputy President/Publicity & Publications officer, Welfare Officer, Education Officer and Entertainments Officer and are elected on an annual basis; all capitated students are entitled to vote. The SU President, Welfare Officer and Education Officer are ex-officio members of the College Board.

The Students' Union Deputy President/Publicity & Publications officer is responsible for the publication of the University Record, which is published every three weeks by the Students' Union. The University Record is the voice of the Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union and many of the contributors are drawn from the ranks of class reps.

The Graduate Students' Union

The Graduate Students' Union's primary role is to provide a recognised representative channel between postgraduates and the University and College authorities. The GSU president is an ex-officio member of the College Board. The Graduate Students' Union publish the "Journal of Postgraduate Research" on an annual basis.

Academic associations

The Pomodoro sculpture in front of the Berkeley library

Two teaching hospitals are associated with the college:

A number of teaching institutions are involved in jointly taught courses:

The School of Business in association with the Irish Management Institute forms the Trinity-IMI Graduate School of Management incorporating the faculties of both organisations.

Trinity has also been associated in the past with a number of other teaching institutions. These include Dublin Institute of Technology, Magee College and Royal Irish Academy of Music.

The Douglas Hyde Gallery, a contemporary art gallery, is located on the main college campus at the Nassau Street entrance.

Governance

The College, officially incorporated as The Provost, Fellows and Scholars of the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, is headed by the Provost, currently John Hegarty.

The Body Corporate of the College is still headed by the Provost, Fellows and Scholars. The Provost is elected primarily by fellow academic staff, but students' votes have a small weighting. Election to Fellowship and Scholarship is given to academic staff and undergraduates respectively. Fellowship is awarded to academic staff who are seen to have excelled in their field of research. The Foundation Scholarships (informally known as schols) are awarded to students who get a first class honours grade in the Scholarship examinations held annually at the end of Hilary term. Upon election to Scholarship (usually in their Senior Freshman or second year), Scholars are awarded a wide range of entitlements, including an annual salary, free accommodation on-campus, a meal every weekday at the traditional Commons dinner and exemption from the annual examinations at the end of their second year.

It should be noted that the University is considered to be headed, titularly, by the Chancellor, although in the founding Charter, this role is described as "the Chancellor of the College" (see footnote 1). The current Chancellor former President of Irelandand former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, and five Pro-Chancellors, Sir Anthony O’Reilly, Justice Susan Denham, Eda Sagarra, Patrick Molloy and Dermot McAleese, husband of the current President of Ireland.

The Board

Aside from the Provost, Fellows and Scholars, Trinity has a Board (dating from 1637), which carries out general governance, and a Council (dating from 1874), which oversees academic matters.

The governance of Trinity was changed in 2000, by the Oireachtas, in legislation proposed by the Board of Trinity, viz The Trinity College, Dublin (Charters and Letters Patent Amendment) Act, 2000. This was introduced separately from the Universities Act 1997 and 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 fellows, non-fellow academic staff and non-academic staff are elected to serve for a fixed term; the most recent elections took place in 2005 for three- and five-year terms, as a transitional step to more regular terms. The four student members are the President, Education Officer and Welfare Officer of the Students' Union and the president of the Graduate Students' Union (all ex officio) and are elected annually for one-year terms. The vice-provost, senior lecturer, registrar and bursar are 'annual officers' appointed for one-year (renewable) terms by the Provost.

The Visitors

The College also has an oversight structure in the form of Visitors. Elizabeth originally designated seven office-holders as Visitors but Charles I reduced this to two, the Chancellor and (at that time) the Archbishop of Dublin. Today, the primary Visitor is the Chancellor (who may be substituted by one of the Pro-Chancellors) and the second Visitor is today appointed by the Government from a panel of two submitted by the Senate of the University of Dublin.

Parliamentary representation

Continuing the United Kingdom tradition (since abandoned) of according seats in the British House of Commons to representatives of the longer-established universities, graduates of the University of Dublin (including Scholars of Trinity College) and the National University of Ireland each elect three members of Seanad Éireann, the Irish Senate. Terms are served until a new general election is called by the dissolution of Dáil Éireann.

The three serving Trinity Senators (as at August 2007) are legal scholar Ivana Bacik, Joycean scholar David Norris, and journalist Shane Ross. Past Trinity Senators have included the present University Chancellor Mary Robinson and Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness, a former member of the Irish Supreme Court and current President of the Law Reform Commission. Notable British House of Commons representatives have included the then Sir Edward Carson.

Traditions

The Latin Grace is said "before and after meat" at Commons, a three-course meal served in the College Dining Hall Monday to Friday (Commons is attended by Scholars and Fellows of the College)

A popular nickname for students of the university is Trinner, and there is a longstanding rivalry with nearby University College Dublin, which is largely friendly in nature.

Research and innovation

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The recently built Lloyd institute, used by computer science, neuroscience, the Trinity Centre for High Performance Computing, Physics and Statistics.

Trinity College is the most productive internationally recognised research centre in Ireland. The University operates an Innovation Centre which fosters academic innovation and consultancy, provides patenting advice and research information and facilitates the establishment and operation of industrial laboratories and campus companies.

In 1999 the University purchased an Enterprise Centre on Pearse Street, seven minutes walk from the on-campus Innovation Centre. The site has over 200,000 square feet (19,000 m²) of built space and contains a protected building, the Tower, which currently houses a Craft Centre. The Trinity Enterprise Centre will house companies drawn from the University research sector in Dublin.

Multi-disciplinary research

Programmes in advanced technology

Campus industrial laboratories

Current and former campus companies

References and Footnotes

  1. ^ Extracts from Letters Patent ("First or Foundation Charter") of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and establish a College, mother of a (the) University, near the city of Dublin for the better education, training and instruction of scholars and students in our realm...and also that provision should be made...for the relief and support of a provost and some fellows and scholars...it shall be called THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY AND UNDIVIDED TRINITY NEAR DUBLIN FOUNDED BY THE MOST SERENE QUEEN ELIZABETH. And...we erect...that College with a provost, three fellows in the name of many, and three scholars in the name of many, to continue for ever. And further we make...Adam Loftus, D.D., archbishop of Dublin, chancellor of our kingdom of Ireland, the first...provost of the aforesaid College... And we make...Henry Ussher, M.A., Luke Challoner, M.A., Lancellot Moine, B.A., the first...fellows there... And we make...Henry Lee, William Daniell, and Stephen White the first...scholars... And further...we will...that the aforesaid provost, fellows and scholars of Trinity College aforesaid and their successors in matter, fact and name in future are and shall be a body corporate and politic, for ever incorporated...by the name of THE PROVOST, FELLOWS AND SCHOLARS OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY AND UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN, and that in all future times they shall be known...by that name, and shall have perpetual succession...and we really and completely create...them...a body corporate and politic, to endure for ever... And whereas it appears that certain degrees have been of assistance in the arts and faculties, we ordain...that the students in this College of the holy and undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin shall have liberty and power to obtain degrees of Bachelor, Master, and Doctor, at a suitable time, in all arts and faculties. ...and that they shall have liberty to perform among themselves all acts and scholastic exercises for gaining such degrees, as shall seem fit to the provost and the majority of the fellows, (and that they may elect...all persons for better promoting such things, whether Vice-Chancellor, Proctor or Proctors), (for we have approved assignment of the dignity of Chancellor to...William Cecil, Baron Burghley...and...when he shall cease to be chancellor...the provost and the majority of the fellows shall elect a suitable person of this sort as chancellor of the College. And the chancellor, or his vice-chancellor, with the archbishop of Dublin, the Bishop of Meath, the vice treasurer, the treasurer for war, and the chief justice of our chief place within this our kingdom of Ireland, the mayor of the city of Dublin for the time being, or the majority of them who shall be called visitors, shall break off and limit all contentions, actions and controversies (which the provost and the majority of the fellows cannot settle), and that they shall punish all the graver faults not amended by the provost and fellows.)"
  2. ^ * The judgement of the High Court of Justice of Ireland on the "relationship" between Trinity College and the University of Dublin (June 2, 1888)
  3. ^ Gordon Foster
  4. ^ ISBN1966
  5. ^ THES Ranking 2006
  6. ^ Financial Times Ranking
  7. ^ SJTU Ranking
  8. ^ Whitefield Consulting Worldwide - European MBA Rankings 2007
  9. ^ Trinity Hall houses one thousand students, of whom the majority are first years. Postgraduates, international students and other continuing students also have rooms there.
  10. ^ London: Newman, Cardinal Henry; The Rise and Progress of Universities, Chapter 17 (The Ancient University of Dublin), 207-212
  11. ^ History of Trinity College: Laying the Foundations
  12. ^ College Calendar, Degrees and Diplomas, I:E4:§4

See also

53°20′40″N 6°15′30″W / 53.34444°N 6.25833°W / 53.34444; -6.25833

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