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The University of the West of Scotland was formed on 1 August 2007 by the merger of the University of Paisley with Bell College in Hamilton. The result is a university with some 18,000 students at four campuses in west and south west Scotland: in Paisley, Hamilton, Ayr and Dumfries. Some £15m was invested in new facilities at the time of the merger, and a further £71.2 million is being spent on developing the Ayr Campus.
The university has a strong focus on its strong vocational links with industry and commerce. Many courses involve the option of a year's paid work placement and a significant number have been designed to meet specific industrial or professional needs, such as those in forensics, computer animation, and health and exercise. Students from outside a 25 mile radius of one of the campuses are given priority for university accommodation.
The university's origins are as diverse as its campuses. The longest established component was the University of Paisley. This can trace its origins back to a Philosophical Institution founded in the town in 1808 by Peter and Thomas Coats, of J. and P. Coats Ltd, sewing cotton manufacturers. By 1838 this had become Paisley School of Arts, and by 1904 it had become Paisley Technical College and School of Art. In 1950 it became Paisley Technical College, and during the 1960s this expanded onto a 20 acre site close to the centre of Paisley. In 1992 Paisley Technical College became the University of Paisley.
The Ayr Campus, on 20 acres of parkland bordering the River Ayr, was established early in the life of the University of Paisley when it took over the Craigie College of Education. The Crichton University Campus in Dumfries followed a collaboration between the University of Paisley, the University of Glasgow, Dumfries and Galloway College and the Open University. It offers mainly business and computing courses. The Hamilton campus was founded in 1972 as the Bell College of Technology in Almada Street, Hamilton. From 1993 an agreement with the University of Strathclyde allowed it to offer degree level courses.