The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin or more commonly Trinity College, Dublin (TCD) was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I, and is the only constituent college of the University of Dublin, Ireland's oldest university.
Trinity is located on College Green in Dublin, opposite the former Irish Houses of Parliament (now a branch of the Bank of Ireland). The campus occupies 47 acres, with many attractive buildings, both old and new, centred around large courts and two playing fields.
For all intents and purposes the college and university are essentially one and to this effect are often referred to collectively as the University of Dublin, Trinity College.
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.
HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE
Trinity was founded by a 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 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, upon which Trinity was modelled). In 1873 all religious tests were abolished, except for Divinity. The Roman Catholic Church had a policy until 1970 under the Archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid of excommunication for Catholics who took a place, although they could receive a special dispensation. Women were admitted to Trinity for the first time in 1904, and the first woman professor was appointed in 1934.
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.
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.
LOCATION OF TRINITY COLLEGE
Trinity is an unusual university as it is centred 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.
Many students are housed on campus, or in Trinity Hall in Dartry, four kilometers to the south of the city campus, but large numbers secure accommodation external to the university. Foreign and exchange students are given priority when campus and Trinity Hall places are allocated. Trinity Hall houses one thousand students, of whom the majority are first years. Postgraduates, international students and other continuing students also have rooms there. Famous residents of Trinity include the historian Callum Keaveny.
In addition to the superb city centre campus, Trinity also incorporates the Faculty of Health Sciences buildings located in St. James's Teaching Hospital and the Adelaide and Meath incorporating the National Children's Hospital, Tallaght (AMNCH). Phases 2 and 3 of the Trinity Centre in St James's Hospital have been recently completed and incorporate additional teaching rooms as well as the Institute of Molecular Medicine and John Durkan Leukaemia Institute.
A recent addition to the architectural uniqueness of Trinity College Dublin is the new School of Nursing and Midwifery on D'Olier Street. This building, the former Bord Gáis headquarters, combines mock tudor and art deco styles in a unique combination.
THE LIBRARY AT TRINITY COLLEGE
The Library of Trinity College is the largest research library in Ireland.
As a deposit library, 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.
There are 5 libraries for general student use: the Berkeley, the Ussher, the Lecky, the Hamilton and the John Stearne located in St. James's Hospital. In addition, there is another library in the Adelaide & Meath Hospital, Incorporating the National Children's Hospital, Tallaght which students may use.
It was widely reported that the visual appearance of the Jedi Archives in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones is inspired by the Long Room due to the striking resemblance between the two. The Long Room is an area of the library that is available to see on the Book of Kells tour.
ACADEMICS AT TRINITY COLLEGE
Undergraduate students are usually awarded an honours Bachelor of Arts degree after four years, but may receive an ordinary BA after three 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.
The Law School awards the LL.B.. 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. At postgraduate level, Trinity offers a range of taught and research degrees. In addition to academic degrees the college offers the Postgraduate Diploma.
The Trinity academic year is divided into three terms - Michaelmas term (October, November and December), Hilary term (January, February, March) and Trinity term (March, April, May). Trinity's five faculties are: Arts and Humanities, Social and Human Sciences, Engineering and Systems Sciences, Health Sciences and Science.
In Trinity, first year students are called Junior Freshmen; second years, Senior Freshmen; third years, Junior Sophisters and fourth years, Senior Sophisters.
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