For over two hundred years RCSI has played a major role in medical education and training in Ireland. Founded in 1784 to train surgeons, a medical school was later established in 1886.Today RCSI has schools of Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, Nursing and healthcare management. In addition to Undergraduate education RCSI delivers postgraduate training and education through its Faculties of Radiology, Dentistry, Sports & Exercise Medicine and the school of Postgraduate Studies. The RCSI Research Institute is one of Ireland's foremost research centres.
Building on our heritage in surgery, we will enhance human health through endeavour, innovation and collaboration in education, research and service.
The History of RCSI:
The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland was granted a Charter on 11th February 1784. This Charter gave the College the power to control the practice of surgery and to make provision for surgical education. Prior to that time the surgeons were grouped with the barbers and the Barbers Surgeons Guild. The founders had no premises so the earliest meeting was held in the boardroom of the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin. Subsequently, a disused hall in Mercer Street beside Mercer's Hospital was acquired.
The College flourised from the very start and in 1810 moved to its present location at the corner of York Street facing St Stephen's Green. The site acquired for the building at that time was a disused Quaker graveyard. The College set about educating doctors with a strong emphasis on surgery. The founding fathers were very influenced by the standard of surgery in France at that time. Out of respect for the French College of Surgeons they adopted the motto which is our motto to the present time of "Consilio Manuque" meaning Scholarship and Dexterity. The stimulus for growth in the early years was the demand for Army and Navy surgeons for the Napoleonic wars. Over the past forty years the College has become home to the Faculties of Anaesthesists, Radiologists, Dentistry and Nursing. These bodies functioning independently have added a great dimension to the College and have added lustre to the Institution.
In 1844 a supplemental Charter was obtained from Queen Victoria. The chief provision of this was the institution of the Fellowship which divided Graduates into Licentiates and Fellows. The latter could only be obtained by examination taken a minimum of three years following graduation. This is essentially the Charter by which we work to-day. The Medical Act of 1886 confirmed that graduates had to be educated in surgery, medicine and obstetrics and so the Conjoint Board between the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Physicians came into existence. The graduates received Licentiates in these three subjects. Since 1978 the College is a recognised College of the National University of Ireland with the award of M.B., B.Ch., BAO to its graduates in addition to the Licentiates.
Royal College of Physicians of Ireland
The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) was established in 1654, as a Fraternity of Physicians which was granted a Royal Charter by Charles II in 1667. The roll of the College includes the names of such famous Irish medical men as John Steam, Thomas Arthur, Sir Patrick Dunn, Thomas Molyneux, William Petty, John Cheyne, Robert Graves, William Stokes and Sir Dominic Corrigan. In association with the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, the College plays an active part in the education and examination of undergraduate medical students.
National University of Ireland
The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the National University of Ireland (NUI) concluded an agreement in 1977 whereby the Medical School is a recognised college of the NUI and its students graduate from the National University of Ireland as well as from the RCPI and the RCSI. Historically, the Cecilia Street School of Medicine of the Catholic University was the forerunner of University College Dublin Medical School of the NUI. Recognition was given to the Cecilia Street School by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and all the Professors and Demonstrators at Cecilia Street were graduates of the College.
For More Information on RCSI please visit www.rcsi.ie
