THE first half of Glasgow's new £228million supercampus has opened - and the Evening Times was there for the exclusive first look round.

Today we speak to City of Glasgow College principal Paul Little as he reflects on the progress so far for what will be Europe's largest college.

IT could have become a university - but City of Glasgow College principal Paul Little and his board were determined to fly the flag for colleges.

When Central College, Glasgow Metropolitan College and Glasgow College of Nautical Studies merged in 2010 they formed an institution twice the size of any of Glasgow's universities.

Riverside Campus, the £66million building on the banks of the Clyde, has now opened and City Campus - the size of three George Squares - will open in August next year.

When the £228million supercampus is completed it will be home to 40,000 students - compared to Strathclyde University's 20,000, Glasgow's 25,000 or Glasgow Caledonian's 17,000.

This will also make it the largest college in Europe.

Principle Paul Little, who was the principal of Central College prior to the merger, has been the driving force behind the project.

Mr Little said: "We value the term "college". As a flagship college we would like to fly the flag for college education in a very public way.

"We have seen other colleges take university status and have learned from that. Yes, it is something that we considered but it was more important for us to try to change the impression of colleges and very much make it known that to come to college is not a second rate choice or a lesser choice than going to university.

"We are keen to redefine college education - we want to redefine what the world thinks of college education. The colleges are over 150 years old and we can trace them back to Allan Glen's. These are long, deep roots of college education.

"We wanted to make sure we were merging for all the right reasons so we looked at the possibility of becoming a university. We wanted to do something completely different."

He added: "We are pleased at being able to say that 40% of our students come from deprived backgrounds and they don't feel put off or intimidated by coming here, which they may be if we had become a university.

"We are twice the size of any other university in the city. Glasgow has three universities already. What the city and Scotland needed wasn't another university but a supercollege."

City of Glasgow College does, however, offer degree level qualifications among its more than 2500 courses on offer.

But its thousands of students - just under half of whom come from Glasgow and the rest who are of 135 different nationalities - study everything from law to hairdressing, media to nautical studies.

Riverside Campus will hosting around 10,000 students each year and up to 3000 on any way day.

Mr Little said: "We have been through a large amount of transformation and change. This is one of two sites for the new supercampus and will help us fulfill our public mission for Glasgow and for Scotland and internationally.

"This is a real powerhouse of technical and professional skills that will help further the economic development of the city.

"It is the culmination of eight years of planning, carefully designed - delivered on time and within budget.

"We committed as a college to be world class. We committed as a college to the maritime and engineering heritage of Glasgow. We know it to be world class.

"This building is a positive public statement of our commitment to Glasgow."

Mr Little, who served in Coastguard Search and Rescue for 30 years, said it was important to make sure the college had an international reputation but also ensure the new build serves the local community.

He added: "We have helped regenerate this area of the city and the Gorbals and made a considerable investment along the river.

"The building has had a great impact on the skyline and we were careful in the design to make sure that it would have an impact on the local area.

"For example, the lighting has been designed so it can be changed for different occasions - blue, say, for St Andrew's Day or green for St Patrick's Day and it has literally made this section of the river far brighter.

"We also had a good community engagement project. We took on 40 new apprentices. There have been a significant amount of improvements and this part of the city has benefited.

"This college is of Glasgow and part of Glasgow."

Thanks to the opening of the Riverside Campus, which contains the UK's first 360-degree ship simulator, City of Glasgow College is now the leading maritime college in the UK and has been involved in the design of maritime colleges internationally .

Staff and students work with 10 of the largest international shipping companies such as Stena Shipping and Sonangol Shipping.

Some of this work takes place through Industry Academies, academic hubs that work with industries to make sure students have employability skills and routes to work by offering work placements.

Since merging, the college has had glowing feedback from Education Scotland and is ranked in the top three colleges in Scotland, having risen from the bottom half of the league table, and is ranked fourth in the UK.

Mr Little added: "On merging and becoming a college of the size that we are, it was important to us that the sum of our parts is greater than the individual parts.

"This was an ambitious project but we have completed the improbable: we have secured the very greatest building during the greatest recession.

"For City of Glasgow College I want excellence to be the norm.

"Three out of five of our students come from the most deprived backgrounds and yet they are finding success, passing their exams and moving on to advance their studies or into the world of work.

"They come here to fulfil their dreams."