I attended Glasgow Caledonian University, in Scotland, where I studied business and tourism management.
Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) is a very new university, it was founded in 1993, because of the merger of The Queen’s College and Glasgow Polytechnic. It is the third university in Glasgow, located in the centre of the city and serves over 20 thousand students and 1500 staff members. There are also campuses in London, New York, and a college of engineering in Oman.
The university’s chancellor is currently Annie Lennox, a famous singer in Eurythmics, social activist and philanthropist. The chancellor’s role is mostly symbolic, she attends important events such as graduation. In most Scottish universities graduates are “capped” before receiving their degree, which means that the chancellor taps them on the head with a ceremonial hat; this is how I met Annie Lenox.
GCU contains 3 schools, the Glasgow School for Business and Society, School of Computing, Engineering and Built Environment and finally the School of Health and Life Sciences. Subjects range immensely within these three schools. There are courses on video game design/development, nursing, psychology, business and tourism/fashion/human resources, there are many subjects that are more specialised and specific than some you would find in an older, more traditional university.
GCU’s library, the Saltire Centre holds an award and is a fantastic academic library for students. It is the leading UK recipient of Erasmus+ research funding to support training, youth and sport in Europe. They hold a platinum status EcoCampus award, the first university to be accredited with this. GCU also partners globally, which links in China, India, South America and Oman.
Life as a student at GCU was busy and challenging but extremely rewarding and valuable overall. I met my best friends here and the support of my fantastic lecturers helped me through my degree, Glasgow Caledonian University was a pleasure to study at.
Project co-financed by ERASMUS+.
Lorna Murphy
Students’ Union British Volunteer
