14 August 2007

Rarely seen treasures from Gardyne Road on show

101 years after it was first founded as Dundee Training College, the School of Education, Social Work and Community Education at the University of Dundee is currently moving from its Gardyne Road building to a new home on the University’s city campus.

Over the years the School, formerly known as Dundee College of Education and Northern College of Education, has acquired a fine collection of art and artefacts, and many of these have now gone on display in the University’s Lamb Gallery.

They include paintings by major Scottish artists including Alberto Morrocco, David McClure and William Gillies, as well as by notable former students of the College such as Neil Dallas Brown.

Also on show is a stunning art nouveau-style war memorial created to honour the staff and students from the College who lost their lives during the Great War. It was designed and sculpted by two tutors from Dundee School of Art (now Duncan of Jordanstone College). The exhibition also includes other memorabilia such as magazines, photographs, trophies and other presentation items.

The exhibition will be on show at the Lamb Gallery, Tower Building, University of Dundee, until September 8th. Admission is free and opening times are Mon-Fri 9.30 am - 8.30pm and Sat 9.30am -11.30am.

Further information:
A History of Dundee College of Education

In 1905 Provincial Committees were established at each of the four Scottish Universities, responsible for the training of teachers in different parts of the country. The committee at St Andrews University decided that Dundee would be the most suitable base for a new Training College.

Unable to afford new premises straight away, the College started its life in part of the Dundee Technical Institute on Small’s Wynd. Accommodation for students was arranged thanks to support from local churches, and in 1912 Mayfield House on Arbroath Road was acquired to house female students (it was later extended and housed both sexes).

That same year the foundation stone was laid on the new Training College building on Park Place, though it would not be completed until 1920. The College survived severe drops in student numbers in both world wars and continued to expand in the 1950s and 60s.

In 1975 a new home was built for the College (by now renamed Dundee College of Education) at Gardyne Road in West Ferry, where the College has remained until July 2007. In 1987 it merged with Aberdeen College of Education to form Northern College, but in 2001 the two colleges split again, each becoming part of its neighbouring University.

Since becoming the Faculty of Education & Social Work in 2001, plans have been underway to move back onto the University campus, and the new School will be based in several buildings, including the new Teaching & Learning block on Heathfield and the original Technical Institute building where it first began.

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk