New Campus Glasgow: Strategic Benefits Analysis
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City-centre renaissance: a world renowned learning quarter
6.12 The centre of Glasgow as undergone an impressive and significant transformation
during the past two decades. The new campus will contribute to the ongoing renaissance of
the city centre generally, and will more particularly give critical momentum to the
establishment of a learning quarter within the city.
6.13 The new campus will be a symbol of intent, a statement about the importance of
learning in the city. This statement, and the iconic nature of the new campus itself, will raise
the profile of learning to both learners and employers, although this effect is difficult to
quantify (evidence from student surveys at Clydebank College indicate that 50-75% of
students say that the new college building was a factor that attracted them to the college).
6.14 The concept of a learning quarter - encompassing the footprint of the area occupied
by Central and Metropolitan Colleges, Strathclyde University and Caledonian University -
does exist to some extent already, at least on a map. However, there are limited 'entry-points'
to the education quarter, and it is currently somewhat disconnected from both the existing
retail core and surrounding communities. Furthermore, there is scope for greater physical
integration between the colleges and two universities.
6.15 The new campus will establish the learning quarter within the minds of learners,
businesses and the general public. It will create new entry points to the learning quarter.
Ground level service areas, where learners gain practical experience, and which are
managed as semi-commercial ventures, will act to draw-in members of the public. This will
remove the disconnect between the existing retail core and the educational quarter, creating a
more seamless city-centre, and encouraging the city-centre community to make use of the
learning resources on campus.
6.16 Public realm improvements within the footprint of the educational quarter will help to
create a real sense of an educational quarter that is able to compete within - and is renowned
on - a world stage. As has been described in previous sections, this has knock-on effects in
terms of the attraction of inward investing businesses, and the appeal of the colleges - and
indeed the universities - to students from overseas.
Economic impacts
Current impacts of the colleges
6.17 The three colleges currently account for significant economic impacts within the city.
These impacts include:
• Employment of college staff, and the impact of staff salaries, and college
expenditure, being spent throughout the economy;
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Appendix 13: Economic Impact Report