Central College, formerly Central College of Commerce, was a college situated in the centre of Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

. It merged with Glasgow Metropolitan College

Glasgow Metropolitan College

Glasgow Metropolitan College was a further education college located in Glasgow, Scotland. The College was created on 7 February 2005 by the merger of the Glasgow College of Building & Printing and Glasgow College of Food Technology and itself merged with Central College and Glasgow College of...

 and Glasgow College of Nautical Studies

Glasgow College of Nautical Studies

Glasgow College of Nautical Studies was a further education college of nautical and maritime studies, and a provider of marine and offshore training courses. It merged with Central College and Glasgow Metropolitan College in 2010 to form City of Glasgow College...

 in 2010 to form City of Glasgow College. The college had links to universities such as Caledonian

Glasgow Caledonian University

Glasgow Caledonian University is a public university in Glasgow, Scotland.The university was constituted by an Act of Parliament on 1 April 1993 as a result of a merger between Glasgow Polytechnic and The Queen's College, Glasgow....

 and Glasgow University and provided courses such as Business Studies, Information Technology and Health, Hair and Beauty, Legal Studies (which can provide a direct access to the LLB law degree) and accountancy.

The college was one of Scotland's few specialist colleges and provided courses from Certificate through to Postgraduate level.

In addition to the first two years of full-time degree programmes, the College offered training courses and business services to companies in the private and public sectors - locally, nationally and internationally.

The College achieved the quality standard "Scottish Quality Management System" (SQMS) and had numerous other training and quality awards.

Most of the students at the college progressed to the local Universities of Glasgow, Strathclyde

University of Strathclyde

The University of Strathclyde , Glasgow, Scotland, is Glasgow's second university by age, founded in 1796, and receiving its Royal Charter in 1964 as the UK's first technological university...

, Glasgow Caledonian and West of Scotland.

The college had over 500 staff. The principal since October 2007 was Paul Little.

History

The college was founded in 1963 and its first Chairman was Charles Oakley, who was heavily involved in the regeneration of Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 after World War 2. The college has grown since its founding and currently has about 2300 full-time students and 6000 part-time students.

Central College merged with two other city centre colleges - Metropolitan, and Nautical - to form a "super college" which will be the biggest in Scotland and one of the largest in the UK. Central College originally opposed the plan, but later came over. The £300m super campus will be built on Cathedral Street and Thistle Street having agreed in May to establish a specialist company, New Campus Glasgow, to procure it. The campus is expected to be completed by 2016 and accommodate about 2000 staff and 50,000 students. Following various merger talks between the individual colleges Central now favors a fusion approach.

Campus

The college was situated in Cathedral Street, Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, near to George Square

George Square

George Square is the principal civic square in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is named after King George III.-Historical development:George Square was laid out in 1781, part of the innovative Georgian central grid plan that initially spanned from Stockwell Street east to Buchanan Street—which...

 and Glasgow Metropolitan

Glasgow Metropolitan College

Glasgow Metropolitan College was a further education college located in Glasgow, Scotland. The College was created on 7 February 2005 by the merger of the Glasgow College of Building & Printing and Glasgow College of Food Technology and itself merged with Central College and Glasgow College of...

. The campus comprised three buildings. Hairdressing, health and beauty classes were taught in the Charles Oakley building. The Allan Glen

Allan Glen's School

Allan Glen's School was for most of its existence a selective fee-paying independent secondary school for boys in Glasgow, Scotland. It was founded by the Allan Glen's Endowment Scholarship Trust on the death in 1850 of Allan Glen, a successful Glasgow tradesman and businessman, "to give a good...

building hosted business, legal, accounting and ICT subjects. The newest building, the Central Business Learning Zone(CBLZ), housed the College's information services along with examination and training facilities.

Courses

The College ran courses leading to qualifications including National Certificates, Scottish Vocational Qualifications, Higher National Certificates (HNC), Higher National Diplomas (HND) and Diplomas in HE through 3 departments

• Accounting, Law and Information Technology (Allan Glen’s Building)

• Health, Hair and Beauty (Charles Oakley Campus)

• Marketing, Business Management and Design (Charles Oakley Campus)

The College also ran special courses for asylum-seekers, including English for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL 1 - 4).