arms and motto ===
The university's coat of arms is the work of university academic and artist Malcolm Lochhead and draws on four elements from the coat of arms of the university's predecessor institutions. The oak tree (of St. Mungo's legend) and the Book of Knowledge were borrowed from the arms of Glasgow Polytechnic while the saltire ermine and the crossed keys (intended to represent the "unlocking" of the Book of Knowledge) were taken from the arms of The Queen's College. A visual feature was added to the new arms with the illuminated capital letters in the Book's paragraphs reading: G C U (the three-letter abbreviation of the university's name). The coat of arms was matriculated by the Lord Lyon King of Arms and is inscribed into university degree parchments. The university's motto: "for the common weal", which has been adopted since 1975, features in the full design of the arms.
== Campuses ==
GCU's main campus is located in the Cowcaddens area of the city, with most of the buildings dating back to the early 1970s and the construction of the Glasgow College of Technology over the former site of Buchanan Street railway station. GCU also operated out of Queens College' former campus in the Woodlands area of the city on Park Drive, but this was sold to the University of Glasgow in 2001 and everything consolidated on the Cowcaddens site.
In September 2013 the university founded Glasgow Caledonian New York College, which is an independent partner institution whose Wooster Street campus is based in the city's SoHo district.
GCU London is the second campus, specialising in Insurance, Banking and Finance, Risk Management, International Fashion Marketing, Luxury Brand Marketing, Public Health and Construction Management. It is home to the British School of Fashion. Based in Fashion Street, Spitalfields, the centre offers a range of MBA and MSc courses. GCU London opened in September 2010 and it is reportedly the first Scottish university to open a base in London. GCU London offers the UK's first MBA in Luxury Brand …
