The University of Dublin (Irish: Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dublin. 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.[Note 1] It was modelled after the collegiate universities of Oxford and of Cambridge, but unlike these other ancient universities, 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.
Degrees
Graduates of liberal degrees, i.e. non-professional such as Humanities or Science, receive an honours Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Dublin after four years study in Trinity College, 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. Graduates in professional subjects such as Medicine or Engineering, receive professional degrees, which were in the past postgraduate, consequently they have an ordinary BA conferred on them first, followed by the relevant professional degree (in the case of medicine, degrees). Usually they receive all their degrees at the same commencements, but they are technically eligible for the ordinary BA after three years study of Medicine or Engineering, as the case may be.
Apart from MA degrees awarded on the basis of standing, the university may also award an MA degree ad eundem gradum to holders of Oxford and Cambridge MAs. This is a reciprocal arrangement with Dublin University MA degree holders being entitled, in turn, to apply for an MA from Oxford or Cambridge respectively. This originates from a medieval system of accreditation or degree recognition and is a formal statement that the degree from the other university is recognised. Currently the three universities have agreed that this degree will only be conferred in special cases, usually when the applicant is a member of staff away from their “Alma Mater” and require a Master’s to participate fully in university governance.
Members of staff at Trinity College whose degrees are not from the University of Dublin, and do not qualify for an MA ad eundem gradum, may have the degree MA Jure Officii conferred. There are detailed rules for this, consisting of statutes proposed by the board and agreed by the Senate at a business meeting, with entitlement to the MA being based on years of service. Consequently, all the staff of the college after serving a qualifying period, can expect to receive the degree and so be able to enjoy membership of the Senate. (The practical significance of this is that the tendency for the great majority of participants in Senate business meetings to be members of staff of the college is reinforced.)
Other persons, holding specified kinds of high office may qualify for a degree Jure Dignatatis, but the awards of such degrees are now very rare having essentially been superseded by the practice of awarding honorary degrees.
At a point when women were allowed to study at Oxford and Cambridge, and be examined, and have the results published, but not receive degrees from their universities, they were able to obtain the relevant degree from the University of Dublin using the ad eundem gradum provision. As they had to travel to Dublin for the purpose, but had no other contact with the university they were known as the steamboat ladies. From 1975 University of Dublin degrees were 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. These two cases are examples of degrees being awarded by the University of Dublin to persons who have undertaken study and examination at institutions other than Trinity College, and without having been in any sense students at Trinity College.