Scottish Central Institutions

Central Institutions were a range of higher education institutes in 20th Century Scotland responsible for providing degree-level education but emphasising teaching rather than research. Some had a range of courses similar to polytechnics elsewhere in the UK while others were more specialised such as the art colleges and the conservatoire. The term polytechnic, from the Greek πολύ polú meaning many and τεχνικός tekhnikós meaning arts, is commonly used in many countries to describe an institution that delivers technical education, other countries do not use the term and use alternative terminology. ... Art school is a colloquial term for any educational institution (whether secondary, post-secondary/undergraduate, or graduate/postgraduate) with a primary focus on the visual arts, especially graphic design, illustration, painting, photography, and sculpture. ... A music school or conservatory is an institution dedicated to teaching the art of music, including playing of musical instruments, musical composition, musicianship, music history and music theory. ...

They included Colleges and Institutes of Technology, Art Colleges and Agricultural Colleges. Napier College and Glasgow and Paisley Colleges of Technology eventually changed their names to include the word Polytechnic. An institute of technology, or a polytechnic, is an institution of higher education specialising in technology, a vocational education institution specialized in technical education, or a mixture of both. ...

The number of CIs varied but in 1988 the list included the following, several of which now have university status.

• Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee (now part of the University of Dundee)

• Dundee Institute of Technology, Dundee (now University of Abertay Dundee)

• East of Scotland College of Agriculture, Edinburgh (now part of the Scottish Agricultural College)

• Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh

• Glasgow College of Technology, Glasgow (later Glasgow Polytechnic, now part of Glasgow Caledonian University)

• The Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow

• Napier Polytechnic (later Napier University) of Edinburgh.

• North of Scotland College of Agriculture, Aberdeen (now part of the Scottish Agricultural College)

• Paisley College of Technology, Paisley (later Paisley Polytechnic, now University of Paisley)

• Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh (now Queen Margaret University College)

• The Queen's College, Glasgow (now part of Glasgow Caledonian University)

• Robert Gordon's Institute of Technology, Aberdeen (now The Robert Gordon University)

• The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Glasgow

• Scottish College of Textiles, Galashiels (now part of Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh)

• The West of Scotland College, Auchincruive (now part of the Scottish Agricultural College)

Another CI, Leith Nautical College, Leith, had been closed in 1987 by merger into the further eductaion sector. The University of Dundee is the principal university in the city and Royal Burgh of Dundee, Scotland. ... The University of Abertay Dundee is a university in Dundee, Scotland. ... Media:Example. ... Edinburgh College of Art is an art school in Edinburgh, Scotland, providing tertiary education. ... Glasgow Caledonian University is a University in Glasgow, Scotland. ... North elevation of GSAs Mackintosh building Glasgow School of Art is one of four independent art schools in Scotland, situated in the Garnethill area of Glasgow. ... Napier University is a university in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... Media:Example. ... The University of Paisley is a multi-campus institution operating across three campus sites in the west and south-west of Scotland: Paisley, Ayr and Dumfries. ... Queen Margaret University College (formerly Queen Margaret College) is a university college in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... Glasgow Caledonian University is a University in Glasgow, Scotland. ... The Robert Gordon University (often known as RGU) is a modern University located in Aberdeen, Scotland with an emphasis on providing high quality higher education and research from undergraduate to doctorate level. ... The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD), founded in 1845 as the Scottish National Academy of Music, is a university of music and drama in Glasgow, Scotland. ... Heriot-Watt University is the eighth oldest higher education institution in the United Kingdom, although it only received its university charter in 1966. ... Media:Example. ...

Some subjects were not taught at the CIs, for example teacher training was only carried out by the Colleges of Education which later merged with Universities, and Sociology was only offered by the Universities.

Like the designation Polytechnic, the term Central Institution is not currently used since most of these institutions entered the university sector in 1992 when the Further and Higher Education Act, 1992 came into effect. They are now sometimes referred to as Scottish centrally-funded colleges or as Post-1992 universities, In the UK, the Post-1992 universities or Modern Universities are the former polytechnics or colleges of higher education that were given the status of universities by John Majors government in 1992 or colleges that have been granted university status since then: Post-1992 or Modern Universities Abertay University...

Sources

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1988/Uksi_19881447_en_2.htm

http://www.learningservices.gcal.ac.uk/archives/queens_college/index.html

http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/news/0504leith.html

See also

• Education in Scotland
• List of universities in Scotland