In July 2018, Annie Lennox was installed as GCU's first female chancellor, taking over the role from Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus.

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).

[15] 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.

[citation needed] The school performs research into built environment and connections with industry leaders in growing markets such as games design.

[citation needed] It is designated a centre of excellence by the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment and is the only business school to offer triple-accredited degrees in financial services.

The school is composed of the following seven departments: The School of Health and Life Sciences is one of Scotland's largest research and teaching centres in health care and life sciences;[18][19] Scotland's only provider of optometry training; and home to an eye clinic, based on campus.

GCU is ranked in the Top 20 in the UK for allied health research at world-leading and internationally excellent standards.

[20] The school is, since 1993, Scotland's only designated World Health Organization Collaborating Centre (WHOCC) for Nursing and Midwifery Education, Research, and Practice.

University degrees and fellowship as well as academic honours and distinctions are awarded by and in the name of the Court, with the advice of the Senate.

[citation needed] The university's social policy research impact at world-leading levels has ranked GCU as in the top 10 in the UK.

[38] The fellowship meets annually to debate and agree action on issues of major concern to society, both locally and globally.

It was the first university to award Nelson Mandela an honorary doctorate upon his release from prison in 1990 in recognition of his leadership during the anti-apartheid movement.

[41] Mandela officially received the honorary degree in June 1996 at a special ceremony in Buckingham Palace,[42] and suggested the renaming of the university's Health Building after his close associate, Govan Mbeki, who was imprisoned in the cell next to him on Robben Island.

Liz Lochhead, the Scots Makar, is the current honorary president of the fellowship, whose membership includes writer Anne Donovan, poet and novelist Jackie Kay, and artist Toby Paterson.

[44] The Caledonian Club is a social and community engagement initiative involving staff and students coaching young people and their families in advancing their learning and life skills, while university-based researchers carry out long-term analysis into the process as part of a wider university research agenda into life-long learning.

In 2011, the Club developed a project named 'The Tale of Two Sporting Cities', with the aim of engaging cultural exchanges between primary schools in Glasgow and London and assessing the sporting and cultural legacy of the 2012 London Summer Olympics and the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

GCU holds its annual graduation ceremonies during the summer and autumn and its academic attire is made by robe-maker Ede & Ravenscroft.