The Glasgow Planning Graduates Association (GPGA) was formed in 1995 as a response to the desires of both the Department's alumni and
the Department itself.

Its aims are to form strong links between planning education and planning practice, and to maintain contact between the Department and our
graduates (not only of the Department of Environmental Planning, but also its predecessor schools of planning at the universities of Glasgow
and Strathclyde, and at Glasgow School of Art.)

The GPGA has built up a considerable membership in a relatively short period of time, since before the Inaugural Event in May 1995, when
over a hundred graduates and past and present members of staff attended a presentation on Glasgow's role as City of Architecture and Design
in 1999, followed by a reception which gave graduates a chance to establish or re-establish contacts with colleagues.

The Association has since organised a successful series of seminars on topics of contemporary planning interest, and a regular newsletter has
been produced for the membership.

The GPGA has also established a Student-Professional Mentoring Scheme, which has the objective of enabling the student to gain an insight
into the 'real world' of planning practice. Undergraduate students in the Third Year and postgraduates in the Full Time first year Urban and
Regional Planning course are invited to participate, and are matched to a mentor, with suitable matching interests where possible. The mentors
are drawn from the membership of the Graduates Association and are employed in the planning and related fields. In recent professional visits
to the Department by assessing bodies, the Mentoring Scheme has been described as "innovative".

Membership of the Graduates Association, which is free, is open to all graduates of the Department of Environmental Planning and its
predecessor schools.

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