30,962 discussions, 145 guides
Glasgow Caledonian University
30,962 discussions, 145 guides
Glasgow Caledonian University
Glasgow Caledonian University
City Campus
Cowcaddens Road
Glasgow
G4 0BA
Tel: +44 (0) 141 331 3005
1971
Fusion Radio
Fusion Radio is a musical and cultural representation of the students of Strathclyde and Glasgow Caledonian Universities. It provides popular entertainment and interviews for the majority of students, whilst always appreciating minority groups' interests. Recently it has had interviews with Craig Brown, Howard Marks and dozens of new bands.
Fusion's primary motive is not to profit , but instead to always ensure that it is successful enough to expand its service. Students are encouraged to get involved at all levels, be it presenting, programming or promoting the service from within the Student Marketing Team. Fusion's offices are situated in the Media Centre on Level 7 at Strathcylde University Union.
re:union
re:union is the Student Association publication which comes out monthly and has several features, editorials and news articles. However, it does not reach the standards of Strathclyde University's newspaper, the Strathclyde Telegraph. The reason that we compare these two unversities is that they are fairly close to each other and are arch rivals, though they do co-operate on some things like Fusion radio.
Eric Cullen - 'Wee Bernie' from Rab C. Nesbitt
Pat Nevin - Footballer
The Students' Association runs three bars in total. The Refuge, is meant to be exactly that...a refuge from the pressures of work. It is busy during the day, but becomes less so at night, especially when there is nothing else going on. The Haven and the Lounge are the two other bars and again both suffer from the same fate: that at night the students go elsewhere (like home). These bars do get busy, however, when the SA's club venue, Asylum, has its weekly club nights. Asylum is a 650 capacity nightclub which has recently been refurbished due to a fire. Mosts nights cost around £3.00 - £3.50 and live acts do play.
One thing we did notice when visiting Strathclyde University is that many Gcal students go to the Strathclyde bars. When we asked why they said there was often more going on. I suppose you will have to decide. The good thing is that you have plenty of choices, and you don't need to be a Strathclyde student to visit their bars.
Asylum has fairly regular clubs nights with a range of music from house, to techno, to 70s, which allows for all tastes to be catered for. The prices are generally OK and it does work out as a good cheap night...cheaper than the city centre at least.
There are usually three to four Balls a year, including the Final Fling, held in the summer where all the finalists have a last go a pulling a Fresher, with varying degrees of success. The Christmas Ball is also quite good but we advise that you bring your mistletoe.
Politically the Student Association is quite left wing, with the two largest political societies being the SNP (Scottish National Party) and the Labour Party. The SA is also one of the leading student voices in Scotland for Free Education and the abolition of fees. Other than that they have a fair range of non-sporting societies, but tend to do a lot of appreciating rather than action. There is for example, the Branston Pickle Appreciation Society and the Homer Simpson Appreciation Society!!
The University has quite a few martial arts awards, including the British Universities Team Gold for Karate, Scottish University League champions in Karate, and the British Open Female champion in Tae Kwon Do. Other awards include athletics and badminton.
50
When it comes to university accommodation, first years get priority. However, this still does not mean that all those who want accommodation can get it. The University does have an extensive range of accommodation, but generally not too much of it. There are single study bedrooms at Gibson Hall and self catered flats at Caledonian Court. There is also a university tenancy scheme, where the university acts as a landlord.
One thing to point out here is that many of Gcal's students live at home or in the local area. Many students also go home at weekends. This can mean that the university is fairly quiet at the weekends.
Externally accommodation is easily available, but the quality is variable!! The University accommodation office does help a bit, but seems to deal more with internal accommodation and getting students into their own tenancy scheme, rather than finding them private accommodation. Whatever you do avoid areas like Easterhouse because they are rough and the residents don't like students.
The University is situated on one campus in the centre of Glasgow. In recent years Glasgow has experienced a major clean up, transforming it from what was once a dark industrial city to its present state with many old, beautiful sandstone buildings and examples of modern architecture. Glasgow also won the 1999 UK City of Architecture and Design. The City is home to the Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet, the Royal National Orchestra and the Royal Concert Hall.
In terms of music, Glasgow has been described as the sound city of Scotland and has produced many famous bands, like Wet Wet Wet, Deacon Blue and Simple Minds. There are music venues all over town from Barrowlands to King Tut's Wah Wah Hut and the 13th Hole.
Pubs are everywhere in the city centre with trendy bars like Bargo, Candy Bar, and the Buddha and Monkey, to established Irish theme pubs, like Waxy O'Connors (a great hit in London). See also, the Glasgow University Guide.
Its probably best not to take a car because parking is quite expensive, traffic congestion is a problem and the traffic wardens are almost as keen as London's. All in all the public transport system in Glasgow is well organised and cheap.
There are banks all around the city. There are also cash machines near the Student Union. English students should keep in mind that Scotland has different banks from south of the border and it may be best to wait until in Scotland before opening a student account.
Along with the Royal National Institute for the Blind, the University have set up a Visual Resource Centre for sight impaired students. There is also a Disability Advisor and access on all campuses is improving. The largest lecture theatres have induction loops.
There are two shops on campus. One sells stationery while the other sells groceries and general amenities. Overall the range is good and the prices are cheap. There is also a shop selling pizza. Fantastic!
There is a reasonably large and extremely friendly branch of John Smiths' bookshop on the campus, they work very closely with staff to ensure availability of textbooks. There are loads of other bookshops in the city.
This really is where Glasgow Caledonian falters! We got the distinct impression that Gcal students rarely, if ever, do any exercise. Although £4 million has been spent on a new sports centre, facilties are still considered limited when compared to other universities. However, since many students live at home, and football in the park is always an option, the University may not need many facilties. There is also a multigym at both campuses.
Generally, public transport around the town is frequent, cheap and well maintained. Trains around Lanarkshire and the rest of Scotland are plentyful.
Its a city centre! However, the mountains of Scotland and the Highlands are within easy reach of Glasgow.
The main library is on the City Campus, but it can be fairly noisy. The University has around 350,000 books and 1,380 study places in total. The library is open until 9:00pm during the week and 7:00pm at weekends. There are also libraries in the city and a reciprocal aggreement has been made between Paisley and Strathclyde Universities, allowing access to their libraries, including their specialist ones.
The students often complain that they can never get a computer when they need one and so on. The university seem to be doing little about this. One student told us that it was even difficult to get a computer during the holidays.
There is a University Health Centre as well as a couselling service, but judging by the numbers of staff (1 nurse, a visiting doctor and 1 full time cousellor) you would think that all the students are a happy bunch of campers! Perhaps they are. There are, however, limited services for women, with no free attack alarms, and no women's groups. To be honest we receive more complaints about Glasgow Caledonian than any other university. Check out the comments section before you think about adding it to your shortlist.
