Trinity College Dublin

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 190,000m² (47 acres), with many buildings, both old and new, ranged around large courts (known as "squares") and two playing fields.

History

The first university of Dublin was created by the Pope in 1311, 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 incorporating Trinity College Dublin at the former site of All Hallows monastery, to the south east of the city walls, provided by the Corporation of Dublin. The first Provost of the College was the Archbishop of Dublin, Adam Loftus, and he was provided with two initial Fellows, James Hamilton and James Fullerton. 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 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. During this century Trinity was seen as 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.

In December 1845 Denis Caulfield Heron was the subject of a hearing at Trinity College, Dublin. Heron had previously been examined and, on merit, declared a scholar of the college but had not been allowed to take up his place due to his Catholic religion. Heron appealed to the Courts which issued a writ of mandamus requiring the case to be adjudicated by the Archbishop of Dublin and the Primate of Ireland. The decision of Richard Whately and John George de la Poer Beresford was that Heron would remain excluded from Scholarship.

TCD Board

Trinity is one of the seven ancient universities in the English speaking world and the only one outside the present United Kingdom, and is perhaps the most prestigous third level institution in Ireland. The institution is regularly ranked highest in Ireland on metrics as provided by certain global (but not comprehensive) surveys.

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.

In January 2008 a new structure replaced the six old faculties with three new ones, as follows, each being headed by one of the Deans (there is also a Dean of Postgraduate Studies):

• Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
• Engineering, Mathematics and Sciences
• Health Sciences

Some basic facts

• The University of Dublin, Trinity College was founded in 1592
• There were 15,492 registered students in 2006-07
• In 2005-06 , TCD secured €58m in research income
• There are over 82,500 alumni
• Trinity College is recognised internationally as Ireland’s premier university and is the only Irish university to rank in the top 100 world universities (53rd) and amongst the top 50 European universities (13th) by the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) university league tables.
• Our three faculties are Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Engineering, Mathematics and Science; and Health Sciences.
• The city centre campus occupies some 47 acres (including the Trinity College Enterprise Centre)
• There is in excess of 200,000 m2 of buildings, including beautiful historic architecture and state-of-the-art modern facilities.
• Over 90 College societies and 50 active TCD Sports Clubs exist .

• In total, there were 15,322 registered students in 2005/06