Technical education has received little attention in the literature of Scottish education. This research aims to remedy this deficiency. Its prime focus is on a major college of technology, examining its origins in the socio-economic context of the West of scotland of the 19th century and relating its development to the form of provision of technical education which evolved nationally during the 20th century. Within the overall research particular study is made of certain aspects: the central Institution System peculiar to Scotland, of which the College eventually became part; government policy for technical education especially post world War II culminating in the Robbins Report with its implications for the public sector; and the College's relationship with industry and its responses to changes in that relationship. Its primary sources are paisley college records and archives, those of comparable institutions, local authority records and the archives of the Scottish Record Office, complemented by oral evidence from individuals with close knowledge of the College and covering the period 1920-80. The research makes an original contribution to scholarship in the account of the College's development from its 19th century origins, in the examination of its recognition as a central Institution and in the appraisal of the role of the scottish Education Department in the development of technical education. The research concludes that the College was a product of its time but that support from the community and indigenous industry was not on a scale to sustain it adequately, and that it was saved from collapse by its relationship with two major industrial firms and its eventual recognition as a central Institution. Greater security and confidence allied to changes in the government policy brought growth and diversification and change to full time degree provision. Local industry remained limited in its demands and relationships with commerce came only late in its existence, but the college successfully devised a range of special services related to wider industrial and commercial needs.