The Governing Body managed the business of the Association. The first Governing Body was a Board of Governors made up of 27 members elected and approved by the Association at the Annual General Meeting. Nine women and twelve men were elected from the Association and another six were nominated members, representatives from local School Boards, Councils and The Merchants House of Glasgow.
The Governors held office for 3 years on a rotational basis where one third of them would retire from office each year. General Meetings of the Governors were held 4 times a year and the Chairman of the Governors was elected at the December meeting. The Chairman would hold office for 1 year but could be re-elected without a break in service.

Chairmen of the Board of Governors of the College:
-Dr Paul Rottenberg, 1908-1915
-Sir Samuel Chisholm, 1915-1923
-Sir Andrew Hislop Pettigrew, 1924-1942
-Mr Osbourne R Hatrick, 1942-1946
-Mr John F Carson, 1946-1953
-Mr A I MacKenzie, 1953-1965
-Mrs Margaret B Cross, 1965-1968
-Mrs Barbara H Quaile, 1968-1971
-Mr George C Parker, 1971-1980
-Ian Hutchison, 1980-1988
-Eric Miller, 1989-1990
-Celia Urquhart-Logie, 1990-1993

The Governors dealt with the affairs of the College through a series of appointed Committees, each managing different aspects of the work of the College. At the Governors’ meetings the minutes of all the appointed Committees which had met since the last Governors meeting were discussed, along with finance and any other business relating to the College. The membership of each committee was confirmed and listed in the minutes of the Governors’ meeting following the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Association.

The first committees were: Governors; Property and Finance; Housewifery; Cookery; Laundry and Dressmaking; and Educational Methods. Some of the committees also had sub-committees and special sub-committees could be formed to deal with particular tasks. In 1912 a Buildings Committee was introduced to manage the building of new premises at Park Drive. This was disbanded in 1919 but re-instated in 1934 to manage the building of the extension at Park Drive. In the 1930s the Playing Fields and Science committees were established. The arrival of a new Principal, Isobel Gibson, in 1947 brought new ideas and retirement of staff members initiated a re-organisation of staff and the administration structure. The Cookery Committee, Housewifery Committee, Laundry and Dressmaking committee and their respective sub-committees were abolished and replaced by a Technical Committee. At this time a Hostels committee was also established to manage the student residences.

By January 1960 Educational Methods Committee and Science committee were abolished, although the Committees had not sat for some time before that. In 1969 the committees changed again with Governors; Educational and Technical; Hostels and Student Welfare; Buildings and Property; Conditions of Service replacing previous committees.

In 1972 an Academic Council was instituted according to the terms of the Central Institutions (Scotland) Regulations (1972). The Academic Council discharged the functions of the Governing Body relating to the overall planning, coordination, development and supervision of the academic work of the College. The Academic Council met for the first time on 20 Feb 1973.

When the Central Institutions (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 1974 were introduced the Board of Governors was replaced by a Governing Body. It had its first meeting on 26 June 1974. There were thirty Governors in total: Principal, Vice-Principal; President of the Student Representative Council (SRC); six elected by and from the Members of the Association; seventeen appointed Governors (two appointed by the Secretary of State) from Local Authority Councils, Academic Institutions, Business Associations, SRC, etc; four co-opted by the Governors. When the Local Authorities merged to form Strathclyde Regional Council in 1976 the representation of local authorities on the Governing Body decreased, giving it a greater emphasis on the business community and student employers. Other Committees were introduced in the 1970s including: Social and Recreational; Publicity; Centenary Celebrations.

In 1980 a Staffing Committee and Finance and General Purposes Committee were formed. Following the introduction of the Central Institutions (Scotland) Regulations 1988 a new Governing Body was structure was brought in, reducing the number of Governors. The new Governing Body met for the first time in January 1989. When the College merged with Glasgow Polytechnic in 1993 to become Glasgow Caledonian University all the committees were disbanded. The final meeting of the Governing Body was held on 25 March 1993 and to mark the occasion a formal dinner was held afterwards in the Park View Suite (the College’s hospitality suite). Each of the Governors were presented with an individually engraved Royal Stuart bowl.

The main appointed committees and dates they served:
-Governors – 1907-1974, Governing Body – 1975-1993
-Property and Finance – 1909-1969, Finance – 1969-1979, Finance and General Purposes – 1969-1993
-Housewifery – 1909-1948
-Cookery – 1909-1948
-Laundry and Dressmaking – 1909-1948
-Educational Methods – 1909-1959 (although this committee is listed in the Governors’ minutes there were no minutes for this committee after 1948).
-Building – 1912-1919, 1934-1937, Buildings and Property – 1969-1988
-Science – 1936-1959 (although this committee is listed in the Governors’ minutes there were no minutes for this committee after 1948).
-Playing Fields – 1939-1968, Social and Recreational – 1973-1976
-Technical – 1949-1968, Education and Technical – 1969-1977
-Hostels – 1949-1968, Hostels and Student Welfare – 1969-1988, Student Affairs 1990-1992
-Conditions of Service – 1969-1980, Staffing – 1980-1993
-Centenary Celebrations – 1974
-Publicity - 1975

The Scottish Education Department (SED) came into being as the body responsible for schooling in Scotland when it was formed from the Church of Scotland's Board of Education for Scotland in 1872.

The Education (Scotland) Act 1872 made education compulsory and took over the running of schools from the Church of Scotland. Burgh as well as parish schools now came under School Boards run by local committees. It was originally called the Scotch Education Department, was a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, and had its offices in London. In 1885 the department became a responsibility of the new ministerial post of Secretary for Scotland, under whom the Scottish Office was set up in Dover House, Whitehall, London.
In 1918 the department was moved to Edinburgh and the name was changed to the Scottish Education Department, in accordance with Scottish usage. The Secretary for Scotland became the Secretary of State for Scotland in 1926. The department was renamed the Scottish Office Education Department (SOED) in 1991, and the Scottish Office Education and Industry Department (SOEID) in 1995.

With devolution in 1999 the new Scottish Executive set up the Scottish Executive Education Department (SEED) to oversee school education whilst the Scottish Executive Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department – now Enterprise Transport and Lifelong Learning Department (ETLLD) – took over responsibility from the former SED for further and higher education.