Glasgow Caledonian University
Glasgow Caledonian University (Scottish Gaelic: Oilthigh Chailleannach Ghlaschu, IPA: [ˈɔlhɪj ˈxaʎan̪ˠəx ˈɣl̪ˠas̪əxu]), informally GCU, Caledonian or Caley, is a public university in Glasgow, Scotland. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of The Queen's College, Glasgow (founded in 1875) and Glasgow Polytechnic (originally Glasgow College of Technology (GCT), founded in 1971).[3] It is located in the Cowcaddens district, just to the immediate north of the city centre, and is Glasgow's third university, after the University of Glasgow and the University of Strathclyde.
In June 2017, the university's New York partner institution, which was founded in 2013, was granted permission to award degrees in the state, the first higher education institution founded by a foreign university to achieve this status.[4] In June 2023, GCU noted that they planned to sell their New York campus as it had not lived up to its potential.[5]
National rankings
79
40
50
1001–1200
601–800
Global Networks[edit]
Oman[edit]
The university has been working with the Caledonian College of Engineering (now the National University of Science and Technology, Oman) since 1996 and offers its largest programme of transnational education there to undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Bangladesh[edit]
The award-winning Grameen Caledonian College of Nursing (GCCN) is a partnership between GCU and the Grameen Healthcare Trust. Established as a social business in 2010, GCCN is raising healthcare education provision to an international standard and transforming the lives of young women across Bangladesh and the health and wellbeing of the population they serve.
South Africa[edit]
The university has a history of interaction with South Africa and a number of its leading figures. It was the first university to award Nelson Mandela an honorary doctorate upon his release from prison in 1990 in recognition of his leadership during the anti-apartheid movement.[36][37] In accepting the honour, Mandela asked the university to offer support for reconstruction and development in South Africa and the university developed in this regard several projects to assist in research and training at a number of South African universities.[37] Mandela officially received the honorary degree in June 1996 at a special ceremony in Buckingham Palace,[38] and suggested the renaming of the university's Health Building after his close associate, Govan Mbeki, who was imprisoned in the cell next to him on Robben Island. The Govan Mbeki Building was officially inaugurated by Mbeki's son, President Thabo Mbeki, in June 2001 and a specially-commissioned portrait of Nelson Mandela was unveiled that year at the Building's foyer by Mandela's wife, Graça Machel.[37] The university is also home to two significant scholarly collections on South Africa: the Anti-Apartheid Movement in Scotland Archive and the George Johannes Collection. In 2012, GCU began designing and developing work-based programmes in railway operations management for Transnet Freight Rail, South Africa's largest freight rail organisation.[39]
Cultural Fellows[edit]
The Caledonian Cultural Fellows Initiative was set up in 2009 with the aim of enhancing university cultural life and promoting cultural engagement with wider community. Liz Lochhead, the Scots Makar, is the current honorary president of the fellowship, whose membership includes writer Anne Donovan, poet and novelist Jackie Kay, and artist Toby Paterson.[40]
Caledonian Club[edit]
The Caledonian Club is a social and community engagement initiative involving staff and students coaching young people and their families in advancing their learning and life skills, while university-based researchers carry out long-term analysis into the process as part of a wider university research agenda into life-long learning. In 2011, the Club developed a project named 'The Tale of Two Sporting Cities', with the aim of engaging cultural exchanges between primary schools in Glasgow and London and assessing the sporting and cultural legacy of the 2012 London Summer Olympics and the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.[41]
Student life[edit]
Students' Association[edit]
Glasgow Caledonian University Students' Association (GCUSA) is the students' association of Glasgow Caledonian University. It represents and enables Glasgow Caledonian University students to enhance all aspects of their student experience.[42] It is located in the Students' Association Building on the Glasgow Campus and has an office at GCU London.[43] All Glasgow Caledonian University students are automatically admitted to its membership upon matriculation.
In 2011, the Association was awarded the coveted title of Students' Union of the Year by NUS Scotland.[44]
The Students' Association runs sports clubs like Glasgow Caledonian University RFC, societies, student magazine (The EDIT)[2],[45] student radio station (Radio Caley),[46] active lifestyles programme and an events programme.[47] At a national level the Students' Association is affiliated to the National Union of Students (NUS) which lobbies and campaigns for students at a Scottish and UK level.
