The city
It is only two miles’ walk from the fourth oldest university in the English-speaking world to the UK’s first technological university. It’s a walk that takes you through a city whose architecture was built at the height of its global success, from the parklands of Kelvingrove, through the city’s Georgian new town and into the Victorian grid of the city centre.
Feature reproduced courtesy of Glasgow City Council
Over that short distance there are over 60,000 students from over 100 countries.
Glasgow is the only city outside of London with two universities ranked by the QS World University Rankings in the global 300 and two specialist institutions, The Glasgow School of Art and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, recognised as top 20 globally. With a further 40,000 students studying in Glasgow’s further education colleges - City of Glasgow, Glasgow Clyde and Glasgow Kelvin, we are a young, vibrant place so it’s no surprise that the same world rankings place Glasgow as one of the best student cities in the world.
One of the city’s strengths is the diversity of its students, its academic staff and its disciplines. Engineers and scientists live, study and work alongside writers, artists and designers. They create a dynamic, a difference and a diversity that fuel the city’s identity, creativity and culture. It’s an oft- repeated line in Glasgow that ‘if you know about it the moment has already passed’. The underground and sub-cultures that pervade the city – from gigs in vacant railway arches, to film screenings in back-lanes or exhibitions in redundant industrial buildings, are driven largely by the city’s students. These students connect with each other across the city, driving the innovation necessary to grow the future economy as not purely cultural and creative consumers, but as creative and cultural producers.
Glasgow is a city that produces, makes and innovates. Drawing students from across the UK, Europe and internationally, from some of the most socio-economically challenging parts of our city and further afield. The city works collaboratively with public and private sector organisations, national and globally on programme development, live student projects, research partnerships and innovation districts centred around the Universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow.
So we retain its graduates: they choose to remain in the city, working within cultural and creative industries, the wider creative economy or setting up their own businesses. They have myriad talents: artists, designers, film-makers, architects, performers, journalist, creative writers, animators, visualisers, digital innovators, musicians, sound producers, critics, engineers and scientists. It is one of the reasons why NESTA ranks Glasgow as one of only five Creative Capitals in the UK – a city that is attracting the best creative talent to live, work and succeed.
We are a small city, small enough that people know each other, but a city where things get done and opportunities are made through its people: there is something distinctive about studying here. That distinctiveness can be found in the diversity of our student body, and the place that our universities and colleges have within their communities, all woven into the fabric of the city. Our city has matured to become borderless and permeable – a place where global businesses work alongside local start-ups and producers.
SOFA relationship to the city of Glasgow:
All UG and PG programme cultivate close links with the creative ecosystem in Glasgow, and this provides exceptional opportunities for live curricular activity through curatorial projects, participation in arts festivals such as Glasgow International and student placements. Working collaboratively across GSA is important to the School of Fine Art with Enterprise Studio, GSA Creative Network and Development to secure opportunities for students to develop work/practice beyond the School.
Stow Building
The Stow Building, opened in 2019, brings together all pathways in the School of Fine Art in one specially-adapted building for first time in over 50 years.
State of the art Technical workshops and beautiful studios feature in a building that was built for making and teaching. Stow has a history of education and craft - built in 1934 as a college for the trades; and the first ever purpose-built Further Education College. There could be no better fit for the School of Fine Art – moving toward a bright future in a building whose robust fabric is permeated by the history and patina of making.
The space to come together, to explore, to develop a new narrative for fine art at the GSA.
GSA Live Map
Our Creative Network comprises over 22,000 GSA students, graduates, industry partners, collaborators and supporters. Spanning all disciplines, representing a multitude of industries and residing in over 95 countries around the world our Network aims to connect one of the largest, most diverse creative communities in the UK. Explore the Network in our Live Map.
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