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 The University of Strathclyde's Lord Hope Building |
The University of Strathclyde is a large university in Glasgow. Its name comes, depending on your point of view, from the ancient kingdom of Strathclyde which once included the area now occupied by Glasgow: or from a Scottish local government region which existed from 1975 to 1996. The university has two campuses. The main John Anderson Campus sits right at the heart of the city, with its buildings occupying much of the considerable area between the city's Queen Street Station and Glasgow Cathedral. It also has an education campus in Jordanhill, though a 15 year £300m investment program in the main campus will include the relocation to it of the facilities currently at Jordanhill.
The university places considerable emphasis on useful learning, and as a result many degrees and most teaching is directed towards producing graduates who are closely fitted to the needs of future employers. As a result it enjoys a reputation for excellence in commercially relevant research and innovation and very strong links with business and industry. In addition to over 25,000 undergraduate or postgraduate students, another 34,000 people take part in continuing education and professional development programmes run by the university.
Strathclyde takes a rounded view of the purpose of a university, actively encouraging students to become involved in a wide range of student activities. This may help explain why the student union building is one of the largest in the UK. University accommodation is guaranteed for first year students, and much of it is located on or around the John Anderson Campus.
The origins of the University of Strathclyde date back to the foundation of the Anderson's Institution in 1796. The funds for its foundation came from the bequest of John Anderson, professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow who left instructions in his will for the establishment of a university which would focus on what he called "useful learning": specialising in practical and vocational subjects. In 1828 the Institution took on the name of Anderson's University, so delivering on Anderson's vision of two universities in Glasgow. It took until 1887 for the name to be changed again because there had never been a legal basis for its adoption of the title "university" nearly sixty years earlier.
The result was the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College. This became the Royal Technical College in 1912, and the Royal College of Science and Technology in 1956. In 1964, the Royal College merged with the Scottish College of Commerce and received a royal charter granting it university status as the University of Strathclyde. At the time it had 4,000 students, a figure that has since risen to over 25,000.