Facts and Figures

At Edinburgh Napier University, we believe in the importance of making a difference. While we’ve risen in rankings and grown in scope over the years, we’ve stayed true to our heritage as an applied technical institution. For our students and researchers, this means that learning and discovery doesn’t just take place in the lab or the classroom, it happens in the real world. That’s what makes us different. Year on year, we deliver personalised education, work-related learning and innovative research that matters—making positive change not just a distant goal but a daily reality.

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The University

Five academic schools: Applied Sciences; Arts & Creative Industries; Business School; Computing, Engineering & the Built Environment; Health & Social Care.
Three campuses: Craiglockhart, Merchiston, Sighthill.
13 specialist research centres.

21,177 students from more than 150 countries: 15,407 (73%) on campus in Edinburgh; 2,944 (14%) studying online; 2,826 (13%) studying for an Edinburgh Napier degree at a partner university.
1,922 academic and professional services staff.

Education and employability

We graduated nearly 6,000 students in Edinburgh and overseas in 2022/23.
Top 5 UK modern university for career prospects (Guardian University Guide 2024).
Home to more than 450 graduate apprentices across Computing, Engineering and Business.
Over 90% of full-time undergraduate students engage in work-related learning opportunities each year.
98% of undergraduate students and 97% of our postgraduate students are in work or further study 15 months after graduation (HESA 2020/21).
13% of our full-time undergraduate entrants are from SIMD20 postcodes.
We’re the only university in Scotland to offer all four fields of nursing and midwifery registration education, and we train nearly 1,000 new NHS nurses and midwives every year.
Since 2012, our distance learning platform, Global Online, has delivered 16 programmes to over 7,900 students.
76% of our academic staff hold Advance HE Fellowships.

Network and communities

We are the lead partner in the Edinburgh-based collaborative project, HUB for SUCCESS, which helps people with care experience get into and stay in education.
We host the world-first Mountain Bike Innovation Centre for Scotland, which assists businesses to capitalise on one of Scotland’s fastest growing adventure sports.
Our Business School achieved AACSB accreditation in 2023—only 6% of business schools worldwide have this distinction.
We were the first university in Scotland to receive a gold award from the MOD’s Defence Employer Recognition Scheme for our educational support and commitment to the armed forces community.
We are a key partner in a £6m award by the UKRI Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge to accelerate the decarbonisation of UK industry.
We deliver Transnational Education with academic partners in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Switzerland and Vietnam.

Research and impact

We are twice winners of the Queen’s University Prize (2009/2015).
In 2023, Computing professor Bill Buchanan OBE was named Most Innovative Teacher of the Year at the Times Higher Education Awards – the ‘Oscars of UK higher education’.
We’ve increased our income from research and knowledge exchange activities by 40% since 2020/21.
Nearly 700 business start-ups have been supported by our enterprise incubator Bright Red Triangle since 2014.
We were the first UK university to have both undergraduate and postgraduate course options certified by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and we received an NCSC Gold award in 2023 for our contributions to cybersecurity.
We are a top 10 UK university and second in Scotland for generating successful spin-out companies (Octopus Ventures 2023).
We are home to the world’s first PhD in Surf Therapy.

Sustainability

Top university in Scotland for environmental and ethical performance two years running according to the People and Planet University League (2021 & 2022).
We’ve achieved a 27% reduction in net carbon emissions since 2018/19 and 4,671 tCO2e carbon emissions against a target of 5,138 tCO2e in 2022/23--and we’re on track to achieving net zero in our operations by 2030.
We co-founded the world leading Mikoko Pamoja conservation and restoration project in Kenya which won a United Nations honour in 2023.
In 2023, 13 Edinburgh Napier students were part of the team that built a world-first bamboo-timber grid structure in China.