Editing Trinity College Dublin (section)

==== 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" />