University of Dublin

The University of Dublin (Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1592 when Queen Elizabeth I issued a charter for Trinity College, as "the mother of a university", thereby making it Ireland's oldest operating university. It was modelled after the collegiate universities of Oxford and of Cambridge, but unlike these only one college was established; as such, the designations "Trinity College" and "University of Dublin" are usually synonymous for practical purposes.

The University of Dublin is one of the seven ancient universities of Britain and Ireland. It is a member of the Irish Universities Association, Universities Ireland, and the Coimbra Group.

Organisation
The University of Dublin was modelled on University of Oxford and University of Cambridge in the form of a collegiate university, Trinity College being named by the Queen as the mater universitas ("mother of the university"). As no other college was ever established, Trinity is the sole constituent college of the university and so Trinity College and the University of Dublin are for most practical purposes synonymous.

Queen Victoria issued letters patent in 1857 giving legal foundation to the senate, and other authorities specific to the university – 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." In a remarkable High Court case of 1898, the Provost, Fellows and Scholars of Trinity were the claimants and the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin were among the defendants, and the court held that Trinity College and the University of Dublin "are one body".

However, the actual statutes of the university and the college grant the university separate corporate legal rights to own property and borrow money and employ staff.

Detail
The university is governed by the university senate, chaired by the chancellor or their pro-chancellor. The Senate was constituted by the Letters Patent of 1857 as a body corporate under the name, style, and title of "The Chancellor, Doctors, and Masters of the University of Dublin", empowered by statements such as "It shall be and shall continue to be a body corporate with a common seal, and shall have power under the said seal to do all such acts as may be lawful for it to do in conformity with the laws and statutes of the State and with the Charters and Statutes of the College. It shall consist of the Chancellor, the Pro-Chancellors, and such Doctors and Masters of the University as shall be members of the Senate in accordance with such regulations and conditions as the Board shall enact." The "Board" in the above case however is the governing authority of Trinity College, so it would seem the University has also some degree of subsidiarity to the Board of the College, but this is countered by the role of visitors below.

Each meeting of the Senate is headed by a "Caput", consisting of the Chancellor, the Provost of Trinity College (or Vice-Provost in their place) and the Senior Master Non-Regent. (A Master of Arts is called a Regent during the three years following the time when he or she took that degree; subsequently he or she is designated as Non-Regent, and one elected by the Senate from among the Masters Non-Regent, by statute, is, according to ancient usage, designated as "Senior Master Non-Regent".)

At the first Public Commencements of the academic year the Senior Master Non-Regent is elected on the proposition of the Chancellor and the Provost. The Senior and Junior Proctors and the Registrar also make the declaration which is appropriate to their respective offices. In attendance also are, usually, the Registrar (who is responsible for legal and administrative matters) and the Junior and Senior Proctors (who present undergraduate and postgraduate candidates for degree commencement ceremonies). There is also a mace holder, the Chief Steward (responsible for College Security) or his deputy, who proceeds the Caput in a procession. Attendees stand while the procession progresses to the head of the room. These ceremonies are usually conducted in the Public Theatre in the front square of Trinity College. Business is conducted in Latin and the Chief Steward verbally asks for each candidate to be put under scrutiny by saying "ad scrutinum", with the Doctors and Masters of the Senate then asked in turn as distinct groups to consent to the degree being awarded to the candidate.

Under statutes the University Senate also elects two members to the University Council, chaired by the Provost and having the Senior Lecturer of the College as secretary, which governs academic matters. The current Provost of Trinity, John Hegarty, formerly Dean of Research, was elected in 2001. The franchise for the Provost election is the Provost, Fellows and Scholars of Trinity College. The University Council is in effect part of the College, and not of the Senate. The Senate also elect members to the Library Committee which oversees the Trinity College Library.

Traditionally, sports clubs also use the moniker "University" rather than "College". Some of the legal definitions and differences between college and university were discussed in the reform of the University and College in The Charters and Letters Patent Amendment Bill    which later became law but many of the College contributions to this were unclear or not comprehensive, possibly because it concerned an internal dispute within College as to outside interference and also as misconduct by College Authorities in overseeing voting which led to a visitors enquiry which in turn found problems with the voting procedures and ordered a repeat ballot.

The Visitors are also dealt with in Statutes and consist of the Chancellor of the University and one other person (usually a member of the Judiciary) and are a final appeal should anyone contest a decision of the Board or a procedure within College which has been appealed through Departmental School, Faculty, Council, and Board levels and is still contested. The visitors can therefore overturn a decision of the Board. Given the Chancellor of the University is one of two visitors and has the overall authority in difference of opinion between both visitors, it would seem the Board of the College has also some degree of subsidiarity to the University.

Other contributions on Trinity College can be found in submissions to the Oireachtas on reform of Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Irish Oireachtas, since the University elects members to that body)     and in particular the verbal submission of the Provost.

Current officers
Dr Mary Robinson is the current Chancellor of the University, its titular head, and there are an up to six pro-Chancellors, who can act in her place. In November 2010, when Professor Petros Florides was inaugurated these also included Dr Tony O’Reilly, Dr Patrick Molloy, Dr Dermot McAleese, Dr John Scattergood and Dr David Spearman.

Senate composition
The undermentioned persons are members of the Senate, provided that in each case they are Doctors or Masters of the University:
 * 1) Resident Doctors or Masters of the University, that is, Doctors or Masters who are not members of the College or University staff but who hold rooms in College or are in attendance on lectures in arts or in the professional schools.
 * 2) Doctors and Masters of the University who have held a Studentship of the University, or are Moderators who have obtained a large gold medal, or Moderators who have obtained a gold medal in or after 1935, or Moderators who have obtained two Moderatorships of a class higher than class III, and who have applied to the Registrar of the Senate for membership of the Senate, without payment of fee.
 * 3) Former Fellows of the College.
 * 4) Representatives and former representatives of the University in Seanad Éireann.
 * 5) Members of the staff of the College or University, during their tenure of office.
 * 6) Doctors or Masters of the University who have applied to the Registrar of the Senate for membership of the Senate, and have paid a fee of (£5 in 1966 – €65 in 2012)

In each academic year, the Senate holds not less than four Stated Meetings for the Conferring of Degrees; of these Meetings, which, according to ancient usage, are known in the University as "Public Commencements", two shall be held in Michaelmas Term, and two in Trinity Term.

The Senate also holds a Stated Meeting in Hilary Term for the purpose of transacting business of the Senate other than the conferring of degrees.

Degrees
Graduates of liberal degrees, i.e. non-professional such as Humanities or Science, receive an honours Bachelor of Arts degree after four years, but may receive an ordinary B.A. after three years' study. Bachelors of at least three years' standing may proceed to the degree of Master of Arts.

From 1975 onwards, University of Dublin degrees were also awarded to graduates at the colleges of the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT); this practice continued until 1998 when DIT gained the ability to award degrees in its own right.

Parliamentary representation
The University has been represented since 1613 when James I granted it the right to elect two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the Irish House of Commons. When the Kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain were joined with the Act of Union, which came into force in 1801, the University sent one MP to the British House of Commons at Westminster until 1832, when it was given another. It continued to elect two until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. The Government of Ireland Act 1920 provided for a House of Commons of Southern Ireland, for which the University was to elect four MPs as in Westminster, where University representatives were MPs and not Lords, University of Dublin seats were in the Dáil and not the Seanad. These were the only MPs to attend the opening of the House in 1921 since Sinn Féin candidates in the twenty-six counties were returned unopposed and took the other 128 of the 132 seats. Sinn Féin recognised their own Parliament determined by the Irish people as distinct to any continuation of British legislative rule under the British Government of Ireland Act. From 1923 to 1936, the University elected three TDs to sit in Dáil Éireann. Since the new Constitution of Ireland in 1937, the University has elected three Senators to Seanad Éireann.

The current representatives of the University are Ivana Bacik, Sean Barrett and David Norris. Notable representatives have included Edward Gibson, W. E. H. Lecky, Edward Carson, Noel Browne, Conor Cruise O'Brien and Mary Robinson.

The franchise was originally restricted to the Provost, Fellows and Scholars of Trinity College. This was expanded in 1832 to include those who had received an M.A. and in 1918 all those who had received a degree from the University.