Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College also know as Dublin University, is the oldest and leading institution of higher learning in Ireland. The first University of Dublin was established in 1320 in connection with Saint Patrick's Cathedral but lacked an endowment and functioned poorly, finally closing with the dissolution, by Henry VIII, of the cathedral foundation. The present foundation was chartered by Elizabeth I in 1591 as the "mother of an university" with the title of the "College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, near Dublin." It was expected that other colleges would be formed around this nucleus, and that a university of the English type would eventually develop in its place. This expectation was never realized, and Dublin University retains to the present day the capacity to function as both a college and a university. In April 1967 the Irish government announced that it planned to merge University College, Dublin, with the University of Dublin. The plan was ultimately abandoned.