In 1879 the Royal University of Ireland was founded in accordance with the University Education (Ireland) Act 1879 as an examining and degree-awarding university.
The university became the first university in Ireland that could grant degrees to women on a par with those granted to men; Isabella Mulvany, Headmistress of Alexandra College, (back row second on the right) was one of the first to be awarded a degree in 1884 along with Jessie Twemlow, Emily Ebarle in the front row, Louisa McIntosh, Eliza Wilkins and Alice Oldham in the centre and Charlotte Taylor, Annie M Sands, Isabella Mulvany and Marion Kelly in the back row.