A university constituency is a constituency, used in elections to a legislature, that represents the members of one or more universities rather than residents of a geographical area. These may or may not involve plural voting, in which voters are eligible to vote in or as part of this entity and their home area's geographical constituency.
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.
Such constituencies have also existed in Japan and in some countries of the British Empire such as India.
At present there are four instances in two countries of university constituencies: two in the Seanad Éireann (the upper—and in general less powerful—house of the legislature of the Republic of Ireland) and two in the Senate of Rwanda.
Summary
As shown, at Westminster (in the English then successor British parliaments) 4 seats were incepted in 1603 and the final total, 12, were abolished in 1950.
The Northern Irish body was the last in the UK to abolish such seats: it abolished its four for Queens, Belfast in 1969.
Six such seats continue in Seanad Éireann, the upper chamber of the Oireachtas (legislature of the Republic of Ireland). They are the sole directly elected members of the Seanad, with the remainder of the seats being elected by a combination of members of Oireachtas, incoming TDs and outgoing Senators, and local councillors, along with 11 members appointed by the Taoiseach.
Historical representation by party (UK) A cell marked → has a different colour background to the preceding cell and denotes an incumbent who defected or won a re-election for another party.
1885 to 1918
1918 to 1950
Historical representation by party (Ireland) A cell marked → has a different colour background to the preceding cell and denotes an incumbent who defected or won a re-election for another party.
Dáil Éireann
Seanad Éireann
United Kingdom
King James VI of Scotland, on ascending the English throne, brought to the English Parliament a practice which endured 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. James gave the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford two seats each from 1603. On the formal Union (1707), Scottish universities lost their representatives as none were appointed to the Parliament of Great Britain (at Westminster). The voters were the graduates of the university, whether they were resident or not; they could vote for the university seats 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.
In 1868, three new one-member seats were created: University of London; Glasgow and Aberdeen universities combined; and St Andrews and Edinburgh universities combined.
In 1918, the Queen's University of Belfast and the National University of Ireland each received seats. Both these, as well as 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 first used in elections 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 as a single constituency with two seats, as Combined English Universities. They were Birmingham, Bristol, Durham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, and Sheffield. Reading was added in August 1928. The University of Wales also received one seat in 1918.
1918 also saw the introduction of the Single Transferable Vote for university constituencies.