University constituency

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A university constituency is a constituency, used in elections to a legislature, that represents a university rather than a geographical area. University constituencies may involve plural voting, in which eligible voters are permitted to vote in both a university constituency and a geographical constituency, or alternatively they may only be entitled to vote in one.

University constituencies originated in Scotland, where the representatives of the ancient universities of Scotland sat in the unicameral Estates of Parliament. When James VI inherited the English throne in 1603, the system was adopted by the Parliament of England. The system was continued in the Parliament of Great Britain (from 1707 to 1800) and the United Kingdom Parliament, until 1950. It was also used in the Parliament of Ireland, in the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1613 to 1800, and in the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1936.

University constituencies have also existed in Japan and in some countries of the British Empire such as India. Today in the Republic of Ireland there are two university constituencies in Seanad Éireann, the Irish senate.


University Parliament Years No. of
Edinburgh Scotland  ?–1707  ?
Glasgow Scotland  ?–1707  ?
King's College (Aberdeen) Scotland  ?–1707  ?
Marischal College (Aberdeen) Scotland  ?–1707  ?
St Andrews Scotland  ?–1707  ?
Cambridge England, Great Britain, United Kingdom 1603–1950 2
Oxford England, Great Britain, United Kingdom 1603–1950 2
Dublin Ireland 1613–1800 2
Dublin United Kingdom 1801–1922 1 (1801–32)
2 (1832–1922)
Edinburgh and St Andrews United Kingdom 1868–1918 1 between
Glasgow and Aberdeen United Kingdom 1868–1918 1 between
London United Kingdom 1868–1950 1
Combined English Universities United Kingdom 1918–1950 2 between
Combined Scottish Universities United Kingdom 1918–1950 3 between
National University of Ireland United Kingdom 1918–1922 1
Queen's University of Belfast United Kingdom 1918–1950 1
University of Wales United Kingdom 1918–1950 1
Dublin Southern Ireland 1921–1922 4
National University of Ireland Southern Ireland 1921–1922 4
Queen's University of Belfast Northern Ireland 1921–1969 4
Dublin Dáil Éireann 1922–1937 3
National University of Ireland Dáil Éireann 1922–1937 3
Dublin Seanad Éireann 1938–present 3
National University of Ireland Seanad Éireann 1938–present 3

Scotland, England, Ireland, Great Britain, United Kingdom[edit]

King James VI of Scotland, on ascending the English throne, brought to the English Parliament a practice which had been used in the Scottish Parliament of allowing the universities to elect members. The King believed that the universities were often affected by the decisions of Parliament and ought therefore to have representation in it. After the Union the Scottish universities lost their representatives in the new Parliament of Great Britain at Westminster.

The University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford were therefore given two seats each from 1603. The voters were the graduates of the university, whether they were resident or not, who had the vote for their University in addition to any other vote that they might have. After the Act of Union 1800 with Ireland, the University of Dublin (Trinity College), which had elected two MPs to the Parliament of Ireland since 1613, was allowed one member from 1801 and two from 1832.

The University of London was enfranchised with one member in 1868, along with the four ancient Scottish universitiesGlasgow and Aberdeen electing one member, and St. Andrews and Edinburgh electing another. The list of universities represented in Parliament was further enlarged in 1918, including the Queen's University of Belfast and the National University of Ireland. These both, as well the University of Dublin, also received four seats in the devolved Stormont Parliament and the Southern Ireland Parliament respectively that were established in 1920 and elected in 1921. Also in 1918, the Scottish universities switched to all electing three members jointly (see Combined Scottish Universities).

In 1918, all the other English universities (i.e. except for Cambridge, Oxford and London) were enfranchised with two seats, as Combined English Universities. They were Birmingham, Bristol, Durham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Reading (from August 1928), and Sheffield.

The University of Wales also received one seat in 1918.

1918 also saw the introduction of the Single Transferable Vote for university constituencies.

The Labour government in 1930 attempted to abolish the university constituencies but was defeated in the House of Commons. Although the members for the university Constituencies were usually Conservatives, in the later years, Independent candidates began to win many of the seats. In 1948, the Labour government abolished the university constituencies, with effect from the dissolution of Parliament in 1950, along with all other examples of plural voting.

The Members for the university constituencies include many notable statesmen: William Pitt the Younger and Lord Palmerston both served as MPs for Cambridge University, and Robert Peel and William Ewart Gladstone each served as MP for Oxford University for portions of their careers. In his last years Ramsay MacDonald was MP for Combined Scottish Universities after losing his seat in the 1935 general election. Many criticised this as he had previously sought to abolish the seats when Labour Prime Minister, and many now felt the seats were being used to provide a failed politician with a seat he could not find elsewhere.

The Queen's University, Belfast survived in the Northern Ireland Parliament until it was abolished in 1968 (with effect from the dissolution of Parliament in 1969) by the Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1968 (1968 c. 20, Act of the Stormont Parliament). This was part of a series of measures by the then Northern Ireland Prime Minister Terence O'Neill to reform elements of the election franchise and deal with many long-standing civil-rights grievances.

Irish Free State, Republic of Ireland[edit]

Today there are no university constituencies in the Republic's lower house of parliament, Dáil Éireann, but two constituencies are used for elections to Seanad Éireann, the weak upper house. These are University of Dublin and the National University of Ireland. The two electorates consist of the graduates of each university who are Irish citizens regardless of where they are resident. Each is a three-seat constituency elected under the Single Transferable Vote and the election is conducted by postal ballot.

The Parliament of Ireland that existed until 1801 included the university constituency of Dublin University. This constituency continued to exist when, in 1801, the Irish parliament was abolished and Ireland became part of the United Kingdom. When the Irish Free State seceded from the UK in 1922, its new lower house of parliament, the Free State Dáil, continued the use of the two university constituencies already in existence, Dublin University, and the National University of Ireland constituency, which had been established in 1918. However, under the Electoral Act, 1923 voters registered in a university constituency were not permitted to also vote in a geographical one. Both university constituencies were ultimately abolished by the Constitution (Amendment No. 23) Act, 1936 and the Electoral (University Constituencies) Act adopted later in the same year, which took effect on the dissolution of the Dáil in 1937. Later the two constituencies were recreated as senatorial constituencies when the modern Seanad was established in 1937, under the Constitution of Ireland. The first Seanad election under the constitution took place in 1938.

Since the 1970s there has been controversy in the Republic of Ireland about the university constituencies.

In 1979 the constitution was amended to permit the Oireachtas to legislate on university constituencies. It was intended to enable graduates of all Irish tertiary education institutions to elect Seanad representatives (probably in a single six member university constituency, replacing the existing two three-member seats). No legislation has so far (as at April 2011) been passed to implement the amendment. See Seventh Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland for more details.

Some politicians have called for university representation to be abolished, on the ground that it is unacceptable that possession of a degree should confer greater electoral rights than those available to other voters. An example of this view can be found in the Green Party submission on Seanad reform in 2004. The Socialist Party also stand for the abolition of these constituencies.


Other countries[edit]

See also[edit]