The University of Dublin , corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1592 when Queen Elizabeth I issued a charter for Trinity College, as "the mother of a university", thereby making it Ireland's oldest operating university. It was modelled after the collegiate universities of Oxford and of Cambridge, but unlike these only one college was established; as such, the designations "Trinity College" and "University of Dublin" are usually synonymous for practical purposes.