Glasgow Caledonian University - Willie Thompson

In 1993 Queen's College, 118 years old and Glasgow Polytechnic, 22 years old, combined to create Glasgow Caledonian University. Both these institutions, especially Queen's, commenced in circumstances very different from the ones they occupied at the date of their merger. Queen's began life as the struggling private Glasgow School of Cookery; Glasgow College of Technology was planned in the sixties as two separate further education colleges. This book examines the very different histories of both these establishments and the new university which was formed from them. It begins with Glasgow at the height of its commercial power and civic pride amidst immense social problems, and ends with the city's difficult readjustment to the realities of the late 20th century. The development, the successes and the problems of the two institutions are examined against this background. The other principal theme explored here is the changing nature of tertiary education in Scotland and Britain over more than a century, and the manner in which this process influenced the nature of the university which emerged.The histories of the institutions are firmly situated in the context of broader national trends, both social and educational. While most existing university histories are institutionally-orientated, this one, while covering the institutional history, attempts to integrate it with the development of social and cultural forces and trends. It should appeal both to alumni of these institutions and serious social historians.