Union Theological College 3.32

Union Theological College is the theological college for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and is situated in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was established in 1853 as Assembly's College. The building served as the location for the early Northern Ireland Parliaments.The college offers a full range of courses in Theology. The college is associated with the Presbyterian Theological Faculty Ireland which was granted a Royal Charter in 1881 to confer academic degrees in theology similar to universities of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland at the time. These degrees are the Bachelor of Divinity, Master of Ministry and Doctor of Ministry. A full range of Degrees are also conferred by the Queen's University of Belfast, BTh, B.D., M.Div, M.Th., M.Phil and Ph.D. for certain programmes and the college is the largest in the Institute of Theology at the university.HistoryThe college was founded in 1853 as Assembly's College. The college was designed by Charles Lanyon, the architect of the main building at Queen's.From 1921 until 1932 the newly formed Parliament of Northern Ireland met in Assembly's College while Stormont was being built. The Commons met in the Gamble Library and the Senate in the Chapel.