Editing Trinity College Dublin (section)

===Governance===
[[File:Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland (Sculpture of George Salmon).jpg|thumb|upright|Statue of former Provost [[George Salmon]] (by John Hughes) and the [[Campanile (Trinity College Dublin)|Campanile]], both in Parliament Square]]
The [[body corporate]] of the college consists of the provost, [[Fellow#Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin|fellows]] and scholars.<ref name=":5" /> The college is governed according to its statutes, which are, in effect, the College Constitution. Statutes are of two kinds, those which originally could only be amended by Royal Charter or Royal Letters Patent, and which now can only be changed by an Act of the Oireachtas, and those which can be changed by the board but only with the Fellows' consent.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} 

When a change requires parliamentary legislation, the customary procedure is that the Board requests the change by applying for a Private Bill. For this, the whole Body Corporate's consent is needed, with Scholars voting alongside Fellows.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} An example of a change that requires parliamentary legislation is an alteration to the composition of the Board. This last happened when the governance of the college and university was revised and restated by an Act of the Oireachtas in 2000.<ref name=":4" />

==== Provost ====
The Provost serves a ten-year term and is elected by a body of electors consisting essentially of all full-time academic staff and a very small number of students.<ref name=":5" />{{rp|53}} Originally the Provost was appointed for life. While the Provost was elected by the Fellows at the start, the appointment soon became a [[The Crown|Crown]] one, reflecting the growing importance of the college and of the office of provost, which became both prestigious and well-paid.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} But as time passed, it became customary that the appointments were only made after taking soundings of college opinion, which meant mostly the views of the Board.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} 

With the establishment of the Free State in 1922, the power of appointment were passed to the Irish Government. It was agreed that when a vacancy occurred the college would provide a list of three candidates to the Government, from which the choice would be made. The college was allowed to rank the candidates in order of preference, and in practice, the most preferred candidate was always appointed.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} Now the Provost, while still formally appointed by the Government, is elected by staff plus student representatives, who gather in an electoral meeting and vote by exhaustive ballot until a candidate obtains an absolute majority; the process takes a day.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

The Provost takes precedence over everyone else in the college, acts as the chief executive and accounting officer and chairs the board and council. The Provost also enjoys a special status in the University of Dublin.<ref name=":5" />{{rp|46}}

==== Fellows and Scholars ====
[[Fellow]]s and Scholars are elected by the board. Fellows were once elected for life on the basis of a competitive examination. The number of Fellows was fixed and a competition to fill a vacancy would occur on the death or resignation of a Fellow.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} Originally all the teaching was carried out by the Fellows. Fellows are now elected from among current college academics and serve until reaching retirement age, and there is no formal limit on their number.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} 

Only a minority of academic staff are Fellows. Election to Fellowship is recognition for staff that they have excelled in their field and amounts to a promotion for those receiving it. Any person appointed to a professorship who is not already a Fellow is elected a Fellow at the next opportunity.<ref name=":5" />{{rp|58–65}}

Scholars continue to be selected by competitive examination from the Undergraduate body. The Scholarship examinations are now set separately for different undergraduate courses (so there is a Scholarship examination in history, or in mathematics, engineering, and so forth).{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} The Scholarship examination is taken in the second year of a four-year degree course (though, in special circumstances, such as illness, bereavement, or studying abroad during the second year, permission may be given to sit the examination in the third year).{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} 

In theory, students can sit the examination in any subject, not just the one they are studying. They hold their Scholarship until they are of "MA standing" – that is, three years after obtaining the BA degree. Most are thus Scholars for five years.<ref name=":6">{{cite web|title=Foundation Scholarship FAQ|url=https://www.tcd.ie/academicregistry/exams/scholarship/faq/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109083252/https://www.tcd.ie/academicregistry/exams/scholarship/faq/|archive-date=9 November 2020|access-date=2021-05-26|website=Trinity College Dublin}}</ref>

Fellows are entitled to residence in the college free of charge; most do not exercise this right in practice, with the legal requirement to provide accommodation to them fulfilled by providing an office.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} Scholars are also entitled to residence in the college free of charge; they also receive an allowance and have the fees paid for courses they take within the college. 

Due to the pressure on college accommodation, Scholars are no longer entitled, as they once were, to free rooms for the full duration of their Scholarship should they cease to be students.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} Fellows and Scholars are also entitled to one free meal a day, usually in the evening ("Commons"). Scholars also retain the right to free meals for the full duration of their Scholarship even after graduation, and ceasing to be students, should they choose to exercise it.<ref name=":6" />

====Board====
Aside from the Provost, Fellows and Scholars, Trinity College has a Board (dating from 1637), which carries out general governance.<ref name=":5" />{{rp|5}} Originally the Board consisted of the Provost and Senior Fellows only. There were seven Senior Fellows, defined as those seven fellows that had served longest, Fellowship at that time being for life, unless resigned.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} 

Over the years, a representational element was added, for example by having elected representatives of the Junior Fellows and of those professors who were not Fellows, with the last revision before Irish Independence being made by [[Royal Letters Patent]] in 1911.<ref name=":5" /> At that time there were, as well as the Senior Fellows, two elected representatives of those professors who were not Fellows and elected representatives of the Junior Fellows.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} Over the years, while formal revision did not take place, partly due to the complexity of the process, a number of additional representatives were added to the Board but as "observers" and not full voting members.<ref name=":5" />{{rp|67}} These included representatives of academic staff who were not Fellows, and representatives of students. 

In practice, all attending the Board meetings were treated as equals, with votes, while not common, were taken by a show of hands. But it remained the case that legally only the full members of the Board could have their votes recorded and it was mere convention that they always ratified the decision taken by the show of hands.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

The governance of Trinity College was next formally changed in 2000, by the [[Oireachtas]], in The Trinity College, Dublin (Charters and Letters Patent Amendment) Act 2000, legislation proposed by the Board of the college and approved by the Body Corporate.<ref>{{cite ISB|title=The Trinity College, Dublin (Charters and Letters Patent Amendment) Act 2000|year=2000|type=prv|num=1|date=6 November 2000|access-date=4 May 2023|language=en|archive-date=26 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626215617/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1997/en/act/pub/0024/index.html}}</ref> This was introduced separately from the Universities Act 1997.<ref>{{cite ISB|title=Universities Act 1997|year=1997|num=24|date=14 May 1997|access-date=4 May 2023|language=en|archive-date=26 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626215617/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1997/en/act/pub/0024/index.html}}</ref><ref name=":4" /> 

It states that the Board shall comprise of<ref name=":5" />{{rp|75}}
* The Provost, Vice-Provost/Chief Academic Officer, 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 an employee or student of the college, chosen by a Board committee from nominations made by organisations "representative of such business or professional interest as the Board considers appropriate";
* One member nominated by the [[Minister for Education (Ireland)|Minister for Education]] following consultation with the Provost.

====Council====
A Council, dating from 1874, oversees academic matters.<ref name=":2" /> All decisions of the Council require the approval of the Board, but if the decision in question does not require a new expenditure, the approval is normally formal, without debate. 

The council had a significant number of elected representatives from the start, and was also larger than the Board, which at that time continued to consist of the provost and seven Senior Fellows only.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} The council is the formal body which makes academic staff appointments, always, in practice on the recommendation of appointments panels which have themselves been appointed by the council.<ref name=":2" /> 

An illustration of the relationship between the Board and the council is a decision to create a new professorial chair.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} As this involves paying a salary, the initial decision to create the chair is made by the council, but the decision to make provision for the salary is made by the Board; consequently, the Board might overrule or defer a Council decision on grounds of cost.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

====Senate====
[[File:Blazon University of Dublin redrawn.svg|thumb|272x272px|Arms of the [[University of Dublin]]]]
The University of Dublin was modelled on [[University of Oxford]] and [[University of Cambridge]] in the form of a [[collegiate university]], Trinity College being the name given by the Queen as the ''mater universitatis'' ("mother of the university").<ref name=":5" />{{rp|158}} 

As no other college was ever established, the college is the university's sole constituent college, and so "Trinity College" and the "University of Dublin" are for most purposes synonymous.<ref name=":2" /> Still, the statutes of the university and the college grant the university separate corporate legal rights to own property and borrow money and employ staff.<ref name="gsu.tcd.ie">{{cite web|url=http://www.gsu.tcd.ie/files/Statutes-Current.pdf |title=Microsoft Word - Statutes-Current.doc |access-date=28 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318181124/http://www.gsu.tcd.ie/files/Statutes-Current.pdf |archive-date=18 March 2009 }}</ref> 

Moreover, while the Board of the college has the sole power to propose amendments to the statutes of the university and college, amendments to the university statutes require the consent of the Senate of the university.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} Consequently, in theory, the Senate can overrule the Board, but only in very limited and particular circumstances. However, it is also the case that the university cannot act independently of the initiative of the Board of Trinity College.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} The most common example of when the two bodies must collaborate is when a decision is made to establish a new degree.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

All matters relating to syllabus, examination and teaching are for the college to determine, but actual clearance for the award of the degree is a matter for the university. In the same way, when an individual is awarded an Honorary Degree, the proposal for the award is made by the Board of Trinity College, but this is subject to agreement by a vote of the Senate of Dublin University.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} All graduates of the university who have at least a master's degree are eligible to be members of the Senate, but in practice, only a few hundred are, with a large proportion being current members of the staff of Trinity College.<ref name=":5" />{{rp|168–171}}

====Visitors====
The college also has an oversight structure of two Visitors: the Chancellor of the university, who is elected by the Senate, and the judicial Visitor, who is appointed by the Irish Government from a list of two names submitted by the Senate of the university.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} The current judicial Visitor is Maureen Harding Clark. In the event of a disagreement between the two Visitors, the opinion of the Chancellor prevails.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

The Visitors act as a final "court of appeal" within the college, with their modes of appointment giving them the needed independence from the college administration.<ref>{{cite web|title=Role of the Chancellor|url=https://www.tcd.ie/chancellor/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124063808/https://www.tcd.ie/chancellor/|archive-date=24 November 2020|access-date=2021-05-26|website=Trinity College Dublin}}</ref>