HISTORY OF EDINBURGH NAPIER UNIVERSITY

1550 - John Napier, the inventor of logarithms and the decimal point, was born in the medieval tower house of Merchiston Castle.

1958 - Merchiston Tower was saved from demolition with funding from the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works and Edinburgh Corporation began restoring the tower which was to be the focal point for a new college named after John Napier.

August 1964 - Napier Technical College opened its doors to students at Merchiston under the leadership of Dr Joseph Dunning. About 100 academic staff taught around 800 full-time equivalent students, most of who were studying on part-time City and Guilds or National Certificate courses. Fees for such courses were typically about 42/- (£2.10).

Napier offered a range of courses including coopering, cabinet making and boat building, as well as courses in chemistry and physics, mechanical and electrical engineering and building.

1966 – Renamed Napier College of Science and Technology.

1971- Napier offered its first degree course, BSc Science with Industrial Studies. Others, including BSc Industrial Design and BSc Technology with Industrial Studies, soon followed. The need for full-time courses was outgrowing the need for part-time education, diploma courses and courses leading to professional qualifications.

1974 - Edinburgh College of Commerce, based at Sighthill, and Napier College of Science and Technology merged to become Napier College of Commerce and Technology, which gave Napier four faculties.

1975 - Napier was offering five degree courses

1985 – Napier was offering 29 degree programmes

1986 – Renamed Napier Polytechnic and became the first institution in Scotland to gain full accreditation from the Council for National Academic Awards and to receive permission to validate and monitor its degree courses.

1986 - The Scottish Education Department took over control of Napier from Lothian Region and bought the magnificent buildings of the former St Andrews College at Craiglockhart for Napier. War poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon recuperated at Craiglockhart when it was a hospital for shell-shocked officers during the First World War.

September 1987 – The new Craiglockhart campus was opened by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

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.

July 1992 - The Lord Lieutenant of Edinburgh, the Rt Hon Norman Irons, formally inaugurated the university and its first Chancellor, Lord Younger of Prestwick, was installed.

April 1994 - Napier acquired the magnificent buildings and grounds of the former Thomas Clouston Clinic at Craighouse in south-west Edinburgh.

September 1994 - Professor John Mavor, formerly Dean of Science and Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, took over as Principal and Vice-Chancellor.

June 1995 - The university launched its major new fund-raising venture, Campaign Craighouse.

1996 saw three new milestones in the university’s history.

Firstly, a new Faculty of Health Studies was set up as a result of the merger of Lothian College of Health Studies and the Scottish Borders College of Nursing with Napier. This brought the Canaan Lane, Comely Bank and Melrose Place campuses into the university.

Secondly, the university launched a major new Transport Research Institute, which aims to be at the leading edge of research into global transport and transport-related areas.

Thirdly, the magnificent ‘new’ campus at Craighouse came into commission in the autumn, as the first phase of the university’s accommodation strategy was completed.

October 2001 - the £7m Jack Kilby Centre, a purpose-built 500 PC computer lab with 24-hour access, was opened at Merchiston, as well as the new Apex cafe to complement the Triangle restaurant which opened in October 2000.

2003 - On 1 January 2003 Prof Joan K Stringer joined the University as Principal & Vice-Chancellor - the first female Principal to be appointed in Scotland at that time.

2004 - Craiglockhart Campus re-opened after extensive refurbishment and construction, making it the country’s most modern and iconic teaching accommodation.

2005 - The Skillset Screen Academy Scotland is launched to educate and train filmmaking talent. The Academy is a collaboration between Scotland's leading screen practice education institutions, Napier University & Edinburgh College of Art (eca).

2006 - Napier unveils its £100m estate strategy which will help achieve its goal of becoming the best modern university in Scotland and one of the finest in the UK.

2007 - Tim Waterstone, founder of Waterstone’s Booksellers, was formally inaugurated as Chancellor of the University.

2009 - The University changes its name to Edinburgh Napier University to capitalise on our location in Scotland’s beautiful capital city and to help raise the University’s profile in the UK and overseas with students, businesses, partner institutions and key stakeholders.