Dundee and District Association for the Promotion of Technical Education

The Dundee and District Association for the Promotion of Technical Education was part of a nationwide movement in the late nineteenth century to develop more vocational educational opportunities that would maintain a skilled workforce for the benefit of business and industry.

There is a possibility it grew out of discussions on how the Baxter Bequest was to be implemented where there had been some criticism of academic education provided at University College Dundee to the exclusion of business and industry. There were fears in some sectors that the new Institute funded by the Baxter Bequest would also be highly academic to the detriment of industrial and business interests in the area (See Dundee Advertiser "Jute Manufactures and Technical Schools", 20 November 1885; and Dundee Courier "Letters the the Editor: The Baxter Institute" 15 September 1888).

The Association was formed in 1888 to promote collaborative working and discussion between educational, industrial, trades and business organisations in the Dundee and District area towards the development of a syllabus for technical education. Aside from this, it regularly monitored the quality of education at school and higher education levels, particularly the business of the Dundee Technical Institute, and making recommendations to appropriate bodies for developments that would benefit technical education.

1 volume of minutes dealing with the business of the Association.