Work to expand the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College building began in 1903, taking nine years to complete.

After plans had been stalled by World War 2, by the 1950s work had resumed on the Royal College's campus to the north of the 1903 building.

St Paul's Church was purchased by the College in 1953 to act as its Chaplaincy, while in 1956 construction began on the new Engineering Block on Montrose Street (subsequently named as the James Weir Building).

In 1961 the Royal College entered into an agreement with Glasgow Corporation to jointly redevelop the adjacent Richmond Street site which had recently been cleared of its housing and a former church.

The development would give the College a new and expanded home for the Andersonian Library as well as new accommodation for its new social sciences departments – this opening as the McCance Building in 1964, while the merged University of Strathclyde would take possession of the entire complex which included the 13-storey Alec House in 1965 which it subsequently renamed the Livingstone Tower.

Sir Samuel remained at the university until retirement in 1980 – the replacement building for the Andersonian Library opened that year was named in his honour.

Local nicknames for the Royal College, and its antecedents, – The Tech – and – The Poly (from Polytechnic) – are now rarely used as younger generations of students have only ever known it as the University of Strathclyde.

The Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) is housed inside the Royal College of science and technology.

The department boasts over 200 academic, research, technical and support staff, 250 PhD, MPhil and MSc students and over 600 undergraduates.

The highest ratings for both teaching provision and research as determined by the UK national assessment bodies are also seen within this department.

The course offers to help students understand the language of technology and of business and the communication skills used by managers on a daily basis.

There are three technology subjects offered to students at Strathclyde University and they all last for 4 or 5 years depending on what level you are doing.