Napier University
Encyclopedia


Edinburgh Napier is one of the largest higher education institutions in Scotland with over 17,000 students, including nearly 5,000 international students, from more than 100 nations worldwide.

History

Edinburgh Napier University opened its doors to students as Napier Technical College in 1964, taking its name from John Napier
John Napier
John Napier of Merchiston – also signed as Neper, Nepair – named Marvellous Merchiston, was a Scottish mathematician, physicist, astronomer & astrologer, and also the 8th Laird of Merchistoun. He was the son of Sir Archibald Napier of Merchiston. John Napier is most renowned as the discoverer...

,the inventor of logarithms and the decimal point, who was born in 1550 in the medieval tower house of Merchiston Castle
Merchiston Castle
Merchiston Castle or Merchiston Tower was probably built by Alexander Napier, the second Laird of Merchiston around 1454. It serves as the seat for Clan Napier...

(the site of the University's Merchiston campus). His statue stands outside the entrance to the main building on Craighouse Campus today. In 1966, it was renamed Napier College of Science and Technology. Three years later, it merged with the Sighthill-based Edinburgh College of Commerce to form Napier College of Commerce and Technology, which became a Central Institution in 1985.

The college was renamed Napier Polytechnic in 1986 and in the same year acquired the former Hydropathic hospital buildings at Craiglockhart
Craiglockhart
Craiglockhart is a suburb in the south west of Edinburgh, Scotland, lying between Colinton to the south, Morningside to the east Merchiston to the north east and Kingsknowe to the west...

. In June 1992 the institution officially became Napier University. At a ceremony witnessed by over 700 staff and students, Lord James Douglas Hamilton and the then Principal, Professor William Turmeau, unveiled the new University sign at Merchiston. In 1994, Napier University acquired its Craighouse campus. In 1996, the university gained a new Faculty of Health Studies through a merger between the Scottish Borders College of Nursing and Lothian College of Health Studies.

In February 2009 the University launched its new title, Edinburgh Napier University, to reflect its location in Scotland's capital city.

Edinburgh Napier was awarded the Queen's Anniversary Prize 2009 for Higher and Further Education. The award was made for 'Innovative housing construction for environmental benefit and quality of life', recognising the contribution made by the University's Building Performance Centre towards improving sound insulation between attached dwellings.

The motto of the University, Nisi sapientia frustra (meaning "Everything is in vain without knowledge") echoes the motto of the City of Edinburgh, Nisi Dominus frustra (meaning "Everything is in vain without the LORD"). Edinburgh Napier's Tartan was launched at the same time as the name change in February 2009. Previously the university used the Clan Napier Tartan; the Chief of Clan Napier welcomed the new University tartan.

Courses and students

Edinburgh Napier is one of Scotland’s top universities for graduate employability (HESA 2009/10). The courses offered are accredited by 94 professional bodies. In 2009/10, 93.3% of postgraduate students were in work or further study within six months of graduating.

Edinburgh Napier offers subjects including engineering, computing, nursing and midwifery, science, business courses, timber engineering and transport studies. It offers a range of creative courses, including film, graphic design, acting, publishing and product design. Its journalism courses recently became Scotland's only BJTC accredited course.

Edinburgh Napier's Business School has achieved Chartered Management Institute (CMI) certification. The University was also named the best University in Scotland for graduate level employment according to the Sunday Times University Guide 2007. The School of Computing at Napier University is the largest computing department in Scotland.

Screen Academy Scotland
Screen Academy Scotland
The Screen Academy Scotland is a collaboration between Edinburgh Napier University and Edinburgh College of Art. It was opened in August 2005 by the then First Minister of Scotland, Jack McConnell, and is based in Edinburgh, Scotland...

 is one of only two dual-status Skillset Film & Media Academies in the UK. A collaboration between Edinburgh Napier University and Edinburgh College of Art (eca), the Academy is recognised by the industry as a UK centre of excellence in film practice education. Patrons of the Academy include Sir Sean Connery, Dame Judi Dench and Brian Cox with Tilda Swinton an ambassador.
UK University rankings
League tables of British universities
Rankings of universities in the United Kingdom are published annually by The Guardian, The Independent, The Sunday Times and The Times...

2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005
Research Assessment Exercise
Research Assessment Exercise
The Research Assessment Exercise is an exercise undertaken approximately every 5 years on behalf of the four UK higher education funding councils to evaluate the quality of research undertaken by British higher education institutions...

109th
Times Good University Guide 66th 65th 64th 67th 79th 82nd 90th=
Guardian University Guide 55th 43rd 49th 55th 66th 59th
Sunday Times University Guide 76th 64th= 95th 71st 93rd 90th
The Complete University Guide 74th 72nd 77th 71st
The Daily Telegraph 71st

Campuses

The university is based around its Merchiston
Merchiston
Merchiston is a prosperous, mainly residential area in the south-west of Edinburgh, Scotland. The housing is primarily a mixture of large, late Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian villas – several of the latter by Edward Calvert – together with a smaller number of Victorian tenements and...

, Craighouse, Craiglockhart
Craiglockhart
Craiglockhart is a suburb in the south west of Edinburgh, Scotland, lying between Colinton to the south, Morningside to the east Merchiston to the north east and Kingsknowe to the west...

 and Sighthill
Sighthill, Edinburgh
Sighthill is a suburb in the west of Edinburgh, Scotland.For nearly 50 years, the West Edinburgh skyline was dominated by 4 high rise residential tower blocks the first of which was demolished on 21st September 2008 with the other three blocks following the same fate just over 3 years later...

 campuses. There are also smaller medical campuses at outside the city in Melrose
Melrose, Scotland
Melrose is a small town and civil parish in the Scottish Borders, historically in Roxburghshire. It is in the Eildon committee area.-Etymology:...

 and Livingston
Livingston, Scotland
Livingston is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It is the fourth post-WWII new town to be built in Scotland, designated in 1962. It is about 15 miles west of Edinburgh and 30 miles east of Glasgow, and is bordered by the towns of Broxburn to the northeast and Bathgate to the northwest.Livingston...

's St John's Hospital at Howden. Other notable Edinburgh buildings have been incorporated, including the former Parish Church at Morningside
Morningside, Edinburgh
Morningside is a district in the south-west of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is south of the areas of Bruntsfield, Burghmuirhead ; south-west of Marchmont, and south-east of Merchiston...

.

Sighthill Campus
The Sighthill Campus opened to students in the Faculty of Health, Life & Social Sciences in January 2011. The campus includes a five storey learning resource centre, 25 specialised teaching rooms including clinical skills laboratories, an environmental chamber and biomechanics laboratory, a crime scene scenario room, three IT-enabled lecture theatres and seminar rooms, a clinical skills suite and integrated sports facilities. The campus has received the BREEAM excellence rating. This sets the standard for best practice in sustainable design.

The Sighthill campus is also home to a new sports facility which includes a biomechanics laboratory and an environmental chamber which can recreate high altitude conditions with controllable temperature and humidity levels to simulate varying climatic conditions.

Craiglockhart Campus

The Craiglockhart Campus is home to The Business School. It incorporates the Craiglockhart Hydropathic Hospital
Craiglockhart Hydropathic
Craiglockhart Hydropathic, now a part of Edinburgh Napier University and known as Craiglockhart Campus, is a building with surrounding grounds in Craiglockhart, Edinburgh, Scotland.-Origins:...

 buildings which were for a time known as Craiglockhart War Hospital, where First World War poets Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC was an English poet and soldier, one of the leading poets of the First World War...

 and Siegfried Sassoon
Siegfried Sassoon
Siegfried Loraine Sassoon CBE MC was an English poet, author and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches, and satirised the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's...

 were treated. This campus is the home of the law and business courses and is also operates as a conference centre. The Craiglockhart Campus was refurbished in 2004 and contains two lecture theatres, language labs and computing facilities.

Merchiston
The Merchiston Campus is home to the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Creative Industries. It is built around the refurbished shell of Merchiston Castle
Merchiston Castle
Merchiston Castle or Merchiston Tower was probably built by Alexander Napier, the second Laird of Merchiston around 1454. It serves as the seat for Clan Napier...

, the family home of John Napier, after whom the University is named. Merchiston Castle is also the ancient seat of Clan Napier
Clan Napier
Clan Napier is a Scottish clan originally from lands around Loch Lomond, but with presence in Stirlingshire, Edinburgh, Aberdeenshire and Kincardineshire.-Origins of the Clan:There is some debate about the origin of the name Napier...

. It also incorporates the 500-seat Jack Kilby
Jack Kilby
Jack St. Clair Kilby was an American physicist who took part in the invention of the integrated circuit while working at Texas Instruments in 1958. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 2000. He is credited with the invention of the integrated circuit or microchip...

 Computing Centre, named after the inventor of integrated circuits and the handheld calculator.

Napier Students' Association (NSA) is located nearby on Merchiston Place in a converted house. It houses the student bar for Merchiston Campus. The union building also contains the office of the sabbatical officers and Independent Student Advice Service advisors.
Craighouse Campus
The Craighouse Campus is based around the former Thomas Clouston
Thomas Clouston
Sir Thomas Smith Clouston was a Scottish psychiatrist.Clouston was born in the Birsay parish of Orkney, and educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and the University of Edinburgh. Clouston qualified M.D. with a thesis on the nervous system of the lobster, supervised by John Goodsir...

 Clinic which was a psychiatric hospital until 1990. This campus is home to School of Arts & Creative Industries courses as well as the Ian Tomlin School of Music. The campus was sold to The Craighouse Partnership in March 2011 for conversion into flats The university plan to occupy the campus until 2013.

Research and knowledge transfer

Edinburgh Napier has nine dedicated Institutes of Research and Innovation:
  • Edinburgh Institute
  • Employment Research Institute
  • Institute for Science & Health Innovation
  • Institute for Creative Industries
  • Institute for Informatics & Digital Innovation
  • Institute for Product Design & Manufacture
  • Institute for Sustainable Construction
  • Forest Products Research Institute
  • Transport Research Institute

Environmental credentials

Edinburgh Napier has been ranked the top university in Scotland for its environmental credentials by the People and Planet Green League 2010. The university was also awarded the Carbon Trust Standard in 2010 for achieving a 19% reduction in carbon emissions between 1 August 06 – 31 July 2009.

Partners

The Edinburgh, Lothians, Fife and Borders Regional Articulation Hub (ELRAH), led by Edinburgh Napier, comprises 15 university and college partners. The project was established in early 2009 and funded by the Scottish Funding Council. 1,161 undergraduate students joined Edinburgh Napier directly from a Scottish College in 2009/10.

Edinburgh Napier also has articulation agreements and partnerships to deliver courses with higher education institutions in China, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. The university also has offices in Beijing and Hyderabad.

Edinburgh International College

In 2010, the University announced a collaboration with global education provider Navitas to found Edinburgh International College (EIC)
Edinburgh International College
Edinburgh International College is an associate college of Edinburgh Napier University and was established in 2010. Operated by Navitas, EIC provides international students with pathway programmes that enable them to graduate with full degrees from Edinburgh Napier University...

, an on-campus associate college. EIC provides degree level and Pre-Masters pathways in a range of subject areas, including Accounting and Finance, Business, Tourism and Computing.

Students' association

Edinburgh Napier University's students' union
Students' union
A students' union, student government, student senate, students' association, guild of students or government of student body is a student organization present in many colleges and universities, and has started appearing in some high schools...

 is called Napier Students' Association.

The student newspaper, Veritas, is published monthly. It was founded as a tabloid newspaper in 1993 by Neil McIntosh
Neil McIntosh
Neil McIntosh is a British journalist working for the Wall Street Journal, where he is Editor of Europe.WSJ.com. The site launched on 9 February 2009...

. Past Veritas editors include Craig McGill
Craig McGill
Craig McGill is a writer, journalist and media analyst. He has written three books which have been translated into several foreign languages: Football Inc: How Football Fans are Losing the Game, Do No Harm: Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy and Human Traffic: Sex, Slaves and Immigration.Previously...

 and Gareth Mackie.

The Students' Association supports a variety of sporting and cultural societies.

Academic structure

Edinburgh Napier University comprises three main faculties:
  • The Business School comprises:
    • School of Management & Law
    • School of Accounting, Economics & Statistics, and
    • School of Marketing, Tourism & Languages.

  • The Faculty of Engineering, Computing & Creative Industries comprises:
    • School of Arts & Creative Industries
    • School of Engineering & the Built Environment, and
    • School of Computing.

  • The Faculty of Health, Life & Social Sciences comprises:
    • School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Care
    • School of Life, Sport & Social Sciences

Office holders

Edinburgh Napier University's Principal and Vice-Chancellor is Professor Dame Joan Stringer
Joan Stringer
Dame Joan Kathleen Stringer, DBE, FRSE, FRSA is a British political scientist and Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University.-Education:...

 DBE.

The Chancellor is Tim Waterstone
Tim Waterstone
Tim Waterstone is the founder of the United Kingdom bookselling retail chain Waterstone's. Waterstone's now employs 4,500 staff, is the largest specialist bookseller in Europe, with stores in the UK, Holland, Belgium and Ireland, and is the third largest bookseller in the world.- Early life and...

, founder of Waterstone's
Waterstone's
Waterstone's is a British book specialist established in 1982 by Tim Waterstone that employs around 4,500 staff throughout the United Kingdom and Europe....

 bookshop and chairman of HMV Media Group. He succeeded Napier's first chancellor, the late Viscount Younger of Leckie
George Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie
George Kenneth Hotson Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie KT KCVO TD PC was a British politician and banker....

 in August 2007, following his death in January 2003.

Professor George Borthwick CBE is chairman of the University Court and Dr Gerry Webber holds the position of University Secretary & Registrar.

Edinburgh Napier has three Vice Principals:
  • Vice Principal of Strategy, Resources and External Relations – Professor John Duffield
  • Vice Principal of Commercialisation – Professor Robin Mackenzie


Faculty Deans:
  • Dean of the Business School – Professor George Stonehouse
  • Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Computing & Creative Industries – Sandra Cairncross
  • Dean of the Faculty of Health, Life & Social Sciences – Professor Morag Prowse

Alumni

  • Catriona Shearer
    Catriona Shearer
    Catriona Shearer is a newsreader, journalist and television presenter who currently hosts the Reporting Scotland news programme on BBC One.Shearer has previously presented Reporting Scotland live from Wimbledon and T in the Park...

    , BBC Reporting Scotland anchor
  • John Andrew Barrett
    John Andrew Barrett
    John Andrew Barrett is a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician and the former Member of Parliament for Edinburgh West.-Background and early career:...

    , Scottish
    Scotland
    Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

     Liberal Democrat MP
    Member of Parliament
    A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

  • James Boyle (broadcasting)
    James Boyle (broadcasting)
    James Boyle is one of the leading public figures in the British arts world with a long track record in broadcasting in particular. His take-no-prisoners style has earned him numerous plaudits, but also resulted in controversy, most famously at BBC Radio 4....

    , arts supremo (honorary doctorate)
  • Moray Callum
    Moray Callum
    Moray Callum is an automobile designer from Dumfries in Scotland, currently design director for Ford's North American brands' passenger cars...

    , Scottish automotive designer
  • Jim Dobbin
    Jim Dobbin
    James "Jim" Dobbin is a British Labour Co-operative politician and microbiologist, who has been the Member of Parliament for Heywood and Middleton since 1997.-Education and career:...

    , English Labour
    Labour Party (UK)
    The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

     MP
  • Tom Harris, Scottish Labour MP
  • Craig McGill
    Craig McGill
    Craig McGill is a writer, journalist and media analyst. He has written three books which have been translated into several foreign languages: Football Inc: How Football Fans are Losing the Game, Do No Harm: Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy and Human Traffic: Sex, Slaves and Immigration.Previously...

    , writer, media analyst and PR consultant
  • Tavish Scott
    Tavish Scott
    Tavish Hamilton Scott MSP is a Scottish politician and MSP for Shetland. He was Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 2008 to 2011...

    , Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP
    Member of the Scottish Parliament
    Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...

  • Gordon Smart
    Gordon Smart
    Gordon Smart is a Scottish journalist and editor of The Suns celebrity column Bizarre.-Journalism career:...

    , Journalist and showbusiness editor at The Sun
  • Kyle Traynor
    Kyle Traynor
    Kyle Traynor is a Scottish rugby union player who plays at prop for Edinburgh and Scotland.-Biography:Traynor was born in Farnborough, London to Glaswegian parents and was educated at The John Fisher School...

    , Scottish rugby union player
  • Paolo Buoni
    Paolo Buoni
    Paolo Buoni is the director of the European Energy Centre , part of Centro Studi Galileo. He is an alumnus of Edinburgh Napier University and his main achievements are related to promoting best practice in renewable energy for 36 years through training courses and conferences and to highlight the...

    , Promoter of Renewable Energy technologies in Europe, Director of the European Energy Centre
    European Energy Centre
    The European Energy Centre , part of Centro Studi Galileo, was created in 1975 and its focus is renewable energy training and conference delivery in order to create a much needed workforce capable of installing, repairing and maintaining renewable energy equipment.The European Energy Centre and...

  • Alan Fisher}= Journalist - Senior Correspondent, Al Jazeera English
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