More than 80 years of Scottish educational tradition will come to an end in four years’ time when students move out of Jordanhill to a new building in Glasgow city centre.
Strathclyde University court this week endorsed a plan to sell off the 41-acre Jordanhill site in its entirety and build a new pound;50 million facility for the faculty of education on the main John Anderson campus.
Teachers have been trained at Jordanhill since 1921, when it first opened for 1,200 students. How-ever, the university, which eventually took over Jordanhill, believes it is not viable to operate on two campuses.
Andrew Hamnett, the univer-sity’s principal, said: “This is a major strategic decision and I must highlight that there is still much work to be done. We anticipate it will be at least four years before a new building is complete.”
Professor Hamnett added: “The main rationale is that a new purpose-built facility will allow staff and students to enjoy the flexible learning, networking and research collaboration benefits of a single campus.
“Moreover, the cost of a new faculty of education building will be around pound;50m and the court believes this to be a more financially viable option than redeveloping Jordanhill.”
It is believed this option would cost almost pound;40m.
The likeliest outcome now for Jordanhill will be that all or part of the land, including play-ing fields leased to Jordanhill School, will be sold for residential development.
The university court has pledged to consult Jordanhill School, Glasgow City Council and other interested parties before it finalises any decision on the future of the site.
Jordanhill grew to have almost 3,000 students in the early 1970s and was routinely described as the largest teacher-training institution in western Europe. There are 2,750 students on the campus this year.
