University to sell 'white elephant' New York campus

The New York Campus opened in September 2013

A Scottish university that became the first in the UK to open a campus in New York is to end the arrangement.

Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) launched GCNYC in September 2013 but it struggled to attract students and was unable to award degrees until nearly four years after it opened.

GCU said the campus had "not reached its potential" and that the university would look to exit New York.

The project was given £26.5m in loans and grants from the university.

Critics have dubbed the campus a "white elephant" and there have been calls for an inquiry into what went wrong.

A statement from GCU said: "Despite the significant efforts of many staff in the UK and New York in building highly regarded academic programmes, GCNYC has to date not reached its potential.

"Following a discussion at the university court in February, it was agreed that the university would actively seek a partnership with another educational organisation, with a view to the partner ultimately acquiring GCNYC.

"Whilst a partnership is our preferred option for the college, in the event a partnership cannot be established, we will initiate a process to exit from New York."

GCU said it was in talks with "prestigious educational organisations" about partnering in New York and as a result has paused all new student admissions.

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GCU's latest accounts show that £23.1m of a loan agreement with GCNYC has been drawn down to date.

In addition, a grant award of £3.4m was made to GCNYC by the university in 2021/22.

Alex Salmond formally opened GCU NY in April 2014

The New York campus was formally opened in April 2014 by the then first minister, Alex Salmond, and has attracted a number of high profile speakers and seminars.

When Mr Salmond's replacement, Nicola Sturgeon, visited in June 2015, she described the campus as an "absolutely fantastic development" and praised the "foresight" of university leaders.

'White elephant'

The three-year delay in being able to issue degree certificates came because of delays in gaining a licence to do so from the New York authorities.

Labour MSP Jackie Baillie said: "This is an ignominious end to a vanity project encouraged by the SNP government.

"At a time when university staff have felt forced to take industrial action, it is simply unfathomable that this white elephant was still going.

"This is a welcome end to an expensive and doomed project that should go down in history as a guide in how not to run a project of this nature."