Auniversity constituency is aconstituency, 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 involveplural voting, in which voters are eligible to vote in or as part of this entity and their home area's geographical constituency.

WhenJames VI inherited theEnglish throne in 1603, the system was adopted by theParliament of England. The system was continued in theParliament of Great Britain (from 1707 to 1800) and theUnited Kingdom Parliament, until 1950. It was also used in theParliament of Ireland, in theKingdom of Ireland, from 1613 to 1800, and in theIrish Free State from 1922 to 1936.

Such constituencies have also existed inJapan and in some countries of theBritish Empire such asIndia.

At present there are four instances in two countries of university constituencies: two inSeanad Éireann (the upper—and in general less powerful—house of thelegislature of theRepublic of Ireland) and two in theSenate of Rwanda.

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 inSeanad Éireann, the upper chamber of theOireachtas (legislature of theRepublic 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, incomingTDs and outgoing Senators, and local councillors, along with11 members appointed by theTaoiseach.^[1]

KingJames VI of Scotland, on ascending theEnglish throne, brought to theEnglish Parliament a practice which endured in theScottish 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 theUniversity of Cambridge and theUniversity of Oxford two seats each from 1603. On the formalUnion (1707),Scottish universities lost their representatives as none were appointed to theParliament of Great Britain (atWestminster). The voters were the graduates of the university, whether they were resident or not;^[2] they could vote for the university seats in addition to any other vote that they might have^{[citation needed]}.

After theAct of Union 1800 withIreland, theUniversity of Dublin (Trinity College), which had elected two MPs to theParliament 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 andAberdeen universities combined; andSt Andrews andEdinburgh universities combined.

In 1918, theQueen's University of Belfast and theNational University of Ireland each received seats. Both these, as well as the University of Dublin, also received four seats in the devolvedStormont parliament and theSouthern 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 (seeCombined 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, asCombined English Universities. They wereBirmingham,Bristol,Durham,Leeds,Liverpool,Manchester, andSheffield.Reading was added in August 1928. TheUniversity of Wales also received one seat in 1918.

1918 also saw the introduction of thesingle transferable vote for university constituencies.^[3]

TheLabour government in 1930 attempted to abolish the university constituencies but was defeated in theHouse of Commons. Although the members for the university constituencies were usuallyConservatives, in the later years independent candidates began to win many of the seats. The Labour government finally abolished the university constituencies via theRepresentation of the People Act 1948, with effect from the dissolution of Parliament in 1950, along with all other examples ofplural voting.^[4]

TheQueen's University, Belfast constituency survived in theParliament of Northern Ireland until it was abolished in 1968 (with effect from the dissolution of Parliament in 1969) by theElectoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1968 (c. 20 (N.I.)).^[5] This was one of several measures by the then Northern Ireland Prime MinisterTerence O'Neill to reform elements of the election franchise and deal with many long-standing civil rights grievances.^{[citation needed]}

The members for the university constituencies include many notable statesmen:William Pitt the Younger andLord Palmerston both served as MPs for Cambridge University, andRobert Peel andWilliam Ewart Gladstone each served as MP for Oxford University for portions of their careers. In his last yearsRamsay MacDonald was MP for Combined Scottish Universities after losing his previous seat in the1935 general election. Many criticised this, as he had previously sought to abolish the seats whilst 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 humorist and law reform activistA. P. Herbert sat as an independent member for Oxford University from 1935 to 1950. He described the counting of the votes at the 1935 election in a chapter entitled 'P.R.': Or, Standing for Oxford in his 1936 bookMild and Bitter.^[6]

Only members after 1885 are shown.

There are two university constituencies inSeanad Éireann, with graduates of theDublin University andNational University of Ireland entitled to elect three Senators each. Only graduates who are Irish citizens are entitled to vote in these elections. There is no residency requirement so those qualifying who are resident outside the State may vote. Elections are conducted under thesingle transferable vote and by postal ballot.^[7]

When theIrish Free State seceded from the UK in 1922, its new lower house of parliament, theFree State Dáil, had three seats each for the two university constituencies. However, under theElectoral 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 1936, which took effect on the dissolution of the Dáil in 1937. These two constituencies were recreated inSeanad Éireann under theConstitution of Ireland adopted in 1937, with the first Seanad election in 1938.^[8]

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 theGreen Party submission on Seanad reform in 2004.^[9]

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.

  Independent Unionist  Sinn Féin  Ulster Unionist  Cumann na nGaedheal  Independent  Fianna Fáil  Ceann Comhairle

  Independent  Fianna Fáil  Labour  Fine Gael  Human Dignity Alliance

• Australia: theelectoral district of University of Sydney returned one member of theNew South Wales Legislative Assembly between 1876 and 1880. It was abolished one year after the second member elected,Edmund Barton, took his seat. Graduates of theUniversity of Sydney woreacademic gowns while voting.^[10]
• India: India had university constituencies before independence, but these were abolished with the adoption of the modernConstitution of India. Nevertheless, today thePresident of India has the authority to appoint not more than twelve scientists, artists, or other persons who have special knowledge in similar fields, to theRajya Sabha, the upper house in theParliament of India. Currently, theupper houses of the state legislatures in the six states that have them have graduates' constituencies, that elect one-twelfth of their members. Each graduates' constituency is defined geographically rather than by university; graduates of any approvedIndian university may choose to register in the graduates' constituency of their place of residence instead of registering in the ordinary constituency.^{[citation needed]}
• Rwanda: Two members of theSenate of Rwanda are elected by the staff of universities.^{[citation needed]}
• Thirteen Colonies:The College of William & Mary held a seat in theHouse of Burgesses of theVirginia Colony in 1693, and was supported by taxes on tobacco andfurs. This seat was revoked after the House of Burgesses became theHouse of Delegates of theCommonwealth of Virginia within the newly independent United States of America.^[11]
• Bavaria: From 1946 to 1999, the Bavarian upper house, theBavarian Senate had reserved three seats to universities and colleges.

• Cambridge University (UK Parliament constituency)
• Oxford University (UK Parliament constituency)
• London University (UK Parliament constituency)
• Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities (UK Parliament constituency)
• Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities (UK Parliament constituency)
• Combined English Universities (UK Parliament constituency)
• Combined Scottish Universities (UK Parliament constituency)
• Category: Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for university constituencies

• Ancient universities of Scotland
• Elections in the United Kingdom
• Elections in Australia
• Elections in Ireland
• Elections in the Republic of Ireland
• Elections in India
• Academia
• University constituencies in the United Kingdom
• Constituencies
• University constituencies

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