Ancient university is a term used to describe the medieval and renaissance universities of England, Scotland and Ireland that have continued to exist.

Great Britain and Ireland

The ancient universities in United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland are, in order of formation:

• University of Oxford – founded before 1167
• University of Cambridge – founded 1209
• University of St Andrews – founded 1413 (incorporating the University of Dundee for part of its history)
• University of Glasgow – founded 1451
• University of Aberdeen – founded 1495 (as King's College, Aberdeen)
• University of Edinburgh – founded 1583
• University of Dublin (Trinity College, Dublin) – founded 1592

These universities often find themselves governed in a quite different fashion to more recent additions and also hold a number of privileges. The ancient universities of Scotland also share several distinctive features and are governed by arrangements laid down by the Universities (Scotland) Acts.

In addition to these universities, a number of now-defunct universities were found during this period including the University of Northampton (1261-1265) and the predecessor institutions to the University of Aberdeen founded in 1495 and 1593 (discussed below).

Following the creation of the ancient universities, no more universities were created until the late 18th century:

• St Patrick's College, Maynooth, established 1795.
• St Davids College, Lampeter was established in 1822 (Royal Charter 1828),
• University College London in 1826,
• King's College London in 1829 (both this and University College London received their Royal Charters and became part of the University of London in 1836), and
• University of Durham in 1832 (Royal Charter 1837).

The Red Brick universities of the 19th century followed. The New Universities were formed in the late 20th century, largely from the conversion of Polytechnics.

Anomalies

University of Aberdeen

The University of Aberdeen is considered an ancient university and was formed by a union, in 1860, of King's College (formally the University and King's College of Aberdeen), founded in 1495, and Marischal College (formally Marischal College and University of Aberdeen), founded in 1593. While both institutions were universities and would be considered ancient in their own right, the Universities (Scotland) Act 1858 provided for an ancient form of governance and that:

It should be noted that Aberdeen was highly unusual at the time for having two universities in one city. As 20th century University of Aberdeen prospectuses wryly observed, this was the same number as existed in all of England at the time.

University of Dublin

The current University of Dublin (Trinity College) was a new foundation, granted a Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth I in 1592. A prior University of Dublin had existed, created by papal bull in 1311. The latter institution ceased to exist following the Reformation. The University of Dublin is the only ancient university to be located outside of the present-day borders of the United Kingdom.

University of Dundee

The University of Dundee was established as an independent institution by Royal Charter in 1967, but has a long history going back well into the 19th century. For most of its existence, Dundee formed a fully incorporated college of the University of St Andrews, known as University College Dundee and Queen's College at various periods.

Dundee shares all organisational features in common with the other ancient universities of Scotland by virtue of its descent through St Andrews, such as awarding the undergraduate MA degree and electing a Rector. Upon attaining its independence, Dundee also gained a number of significant schools from its parent university, including law, dentistry and the main medical school.

As a result, the University of Dundee is usually considered alongside the ancient universities, particularly those in a Scottish context.

Undergraduate Master of Arts degree

The ancient universities are distinctive in offering the Magister Artium/Master of Arts (M.A.) as an undergraduate academic degree. This is commonly known as the Oxbridge MA, the Scottish MA, the Dublin MA or the Trinity MA.

The ancient M.A. has some differences between the ancient universities in Scotland and the ancient universities in England and Ireland. The former award the degree at graduation with honours and a final mark, however the latter is awarded without honours and on the basis of a period of good standing as a graduated Bachelor of Arts, usually around three years.

Because MA is in use for the undergraduate Arts degree, the ancient universities award differing titles for their postgraduate Masters degrees in the Arts and Humanities such as the taught Master of Letters ("MLitt (T)"). Some confusion can arise between whether such degrees are taught degrees or the most established (and advanced) two year research degrees, although this is often specified.

Universities (Scotland) Acts

As mentioned above, the Universities (Scotland) Acts created a distinctive system of governance for the ancient universities in Scotland, the process beginning with the 1858 Act and ending with the 1966 Act. Despite not being founded until the after the first in these series of Acts, the University of Dundee shares all the features contained therein.

As a result of these Acts, each of these universities is governed by a tripartite system of General Council, University Court, and Academic Senate.

The chief executive and chief academic is the University Principal who also holds the title of Vice-Chancellor as an honorific. The Chancellor is a titular non-resident head to each university and is elected for life by the respective General Council, although in actuality a good number of Chancellors resign before the end of their 'term of office'.

Each also has a Students' Representative Council as required by statute, although at the University of Aberdeen this has recently been renamed the Students' Association Council.

See also

• List of oldest universities in continuous operation
• Medieval university
• Ancient universities of Scotland
• Ancient university governance in Scotland
• Medieval university (Asia)
• Red Brick universities
• Plate glass universities
• Taxila

References