西苏格兰大学在创新和学术优秀上拥有令人羡慕的名声,同时,西苏格兰大学也通过它的四个校区为苏格兰西部地区提供高等教育的基地。商学院有很优秀的研究历史，在最近的研究评估活动中(RAE)，西苏格兰大学的研究成为苏格兰新兴大学中第一个被评为5级的学校。商学院在会计和金融专业有着全国和国际化的领先水平。

计算机学院在计算机和信息通讯技术方面占有领先地位。在专业技术研究领域，与跨国公司如IBM等有协同合作的关系。西苏格兰大学是英国第一个被Cisco, Macromedia and Microsoft认可的学校。

设施设备

大学主要提供以就业为中心的职业教育。课程设计与商业和工业紧密结合在一起，反应了就业市场最新的思想，保证毕业生能够满足就业需求。这种协作和应用研究加强了大学创新课程计划。作为英国最大的信息和交流技术（ICT）教育的提供者，大学为学生提供许多电脑和IT设备。校园里有很多计算机室，图书馆的工作室，学生会和网吧。所有的学生都可以享受免费的电子邮件和国际互联网服务。微软校园协议允许学生在校内外使用最新的微软产品。

师资力量

目前，大学有2000名教职员工，分布在100多个学科领域指导着18000多学生获得学历资格，技术技能和提高个人品质，这些都是增强其在就业市场的竞争力和选择职业所必须的重要因素。

图书馆

校园的The Robertson Trust 图书馆和学习资源中心为学生提供优秀的学习资源。拥有大约20万册书籍，参考文献和综合电子学习资料。图书馆有950个坐位，一个电脑室和语言材料互动视频播放器。

英文介绍

Despite its relative youth, the University of the West of Scotland has a rich, diverse history inherited from the various institutions that preceded it.

Paisley Campus

At the time of the Industrial Revolution Paisley was renowned for thread weaving. Two families, the Coats and the Clarks dominated the industry, both having thread mills in Paisley and this consequently brought much wealth to the region. In particular, the Coats mill was run by two brothers, Peter and Thomas Coats. These men, children of the Age of Enlightenment espoused liberal ideals and became noted philanthropists. Both were keen members of the Philosophical Institution, founded in 1808 and promoted the study of science, literature, travel, music and the arts throughout the town. As such the Coats donated a museum and library to the town, funded the building of the Coats observatory and promoted education throughout Paisley.

The Philosophical Institution, combined with the threading industry helped establish the School of Arts in 1936, succeeded by the Government School of Design in 1846. Paisley Government School of Design was one of twenty similar institutions established in the United Kingdom s manufacturing centres from 1837-1851. Set up as a consequence of the evidence given to the House of Commons Select Committee on Arts and their connection with Manufactures of 1835-1836, the Government Schools hoped to improve the quality of the country s product design through a system of education that provided training in design for industry. Notably, Peter Coats was the director of Paisley Philosophical Institution and the Government School of Design at the time. Later the schools were renamed Schools of Art, and once again as Schools of Art and Science.

The renamed institution sought a new building and found funding with gifts from local industrialists, including Peter Brough, and Thomas Coats. An architectural competition was held and Princess Louise laid the foundation stone in 1897. From the early 1900s the college was a centre for teaching the University of London External Programme. The institution had a financial struggle to retain its independence from central and local Government from the turn of the 20th century. Paisley Technical College and School of Art, as it was known from 1904 had seen funding dry up. Financial necessity meant the college had to seek local government funding to continue operation. Central Institution status would mean closing the school of Art, in the process ceding students to Glasgow School of Art. Thus, it became Paisley Technical College; a Government funded Central Institution in 1950. In the 1960s a large physical expansion took place on the main 20 acre (81,000 m??) Paisley town centre site.

At the time Paisley, in common with other Central Institutions and the former Polytechnics, already offered a range of degrees under the Council for National Academic Awards. With the Further and Higher Education Act of 1992, the Paisley Technical College was granted the title University of Paisley. Today, this institution forms Paisley Campus of the University.

Ayr Campus

The establishment of the University of Paisley prompted a merger with Craigie College of Education in Ayr and led to the incorporation of Nursing colleges in the town. The Ayr Campus was operated by the University of Paisley bore the merger. Set in 20 acres of parkland bordering the River Ayr it claims to be almost self-contained with all teaching, lecture, workshop and laboratory space existing next to the Students Union, student accommodation, library and all other student support services. The campus also houses the Ayrshire Management Centre, the Business School s management training and development facility. The University is currently working on plans for the development of a new ??71.2 million campus for the University in Ayr. The new campus at Ayr is scheduled for completion in 2010.

Dumfries Campus

The Crichton University Campus in Dumfries is the result of a joint project between the University of Paisley, the University of Glasgow, Dumfries and Galloway College and the Open University. The campus mainly offers business and computing courses.

Hamilton Campus

The Hamilton campus was founded in 1972 as the Bell College of Technology. The main campus was constructed in Almada Street, Hamilton. A Memorandum of Understanding between the College and the University of Strathclyde was signed in 1993 to allow the College to offer degree level courses. In 1995, the Lanarkshire and Dumfries Galloway Colleges of Nursing Midwifery were amalgamated into Bell College.

Merger

On 1 August 2007, the University of Paisley merged with Bell College, a higher education college based in Hamilton. On the 30th November 2007, the Privy Council approved the name: University of the West of Scotland for the merged institution.

The name change was resisted by many in the town of Paisley, seeing it as a break with tradition and the connections binding the previous University to the town. The Keep It Paisley campaign attracted a number of supporters, amongst them local MP and then Secretary of State for Scotland, Douglas Alexander.

The merged institution serves over 18,000 students and is the largest new university in Scotland. The Principal and Vice-Chancellor is Professor Seamus McDaid (Vice-Chancellor of the old University of Paisley) and the Vice-Principal with responsibility for merger implementation is Professor Alex MacLennan, the former Principal of Bell College.

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