Edinburgh Napier University guide: Rankings, open days, fees and accommodation
Overview
Edinburgh Napier University (ENU) supplies just short of 1,000 nurses and midwives each year to the NHS, educated in the university's Clinical Skills and Simulation Centre, which offers some of Scotland's best training. ENU is the only Scottish university with degrees in all four nursing specialisms - adult, children, learning disability and mental health - and the guaranteed job outcomes at the end help ENU to have one of the stronger modern-university performances in the graduate employment market and a healthy ranking in guides like ours. It is set on three campuses in the west of Edinburgh - Craiglockhart, Merchiston and Sighthill - which are home to 15,000 students, the majority of whom are from Scotland. While the university has a strong public-sector jobs pipeline, it also has an excellent record for encouraging entrepreneurship. It sits in the top ten in the UK and is second in Scotland for generating spin-out companies from its research, according to a 2023 report from Octopus Ventures, an investor in tech start-ups. About 700 business start-ups have been supported by the university's enterprise incubator, Bright Red Triangle, since 2014. ENU has a strong presence in business, the arts and creative industries, applied sciences, computing, engineering and the built environment.
Paying the bills
There are only about 150 students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland admitted to ENU each year, but those students plus the small number from the Republic of Ireland (ROI) are targeted for most of the university's bursary and scholarship support. (For Scottish students, of course, tuition comes for free.) The extra year of tuition fees (£9,535) that comes with Scottish degrees is waived and for all four years of study an Access bursary of £2,000 is offered to the RUK (Rest of UK) and ROI students who come from homes with a residual household income of up to £25,000. A £1,000 payment is made to those from homes with income of between £25,001 and £42,600. A separate (and possibly additional) Merit bursary worth £1,000 a year is paid to all RUK and ROI students who achieve BBB or better at A-level (or equivalent). All care leavers also get support of up to £1,000 for up to four years. The university paid out almost £465,000 in hardship support in 2023-24, too. There are 1,240 places in self-catered student accommodation with prices ranging from £5,033 for a 39-week let on a twin room to £11,068 for a 50-week tenancy in a studio flat.
What's new?
The university's Project Vision was launched in 2023, with a series of campus conversations examining the future estates and infrastructure requirements of each academic school and the use of space on the Craiglockhart, Merchiston and Sighthill campuses. The project aims to ensure the university keeps pace with upcoming teaching, research and technology developments. A new lecture capture policy launched in the 2023-24 academic year means ENU now has the facility to record all teaching activities to better support student learning through review and playback. The use of captured teaching material is determined on a course-by-course basis. New degrees launched next month demonstrate the academic reach of ENU, which has 13% of its student enrolments studying for ENU degrees at partner institutions. City of Glasgow College is launching two new BAs in international hospitality management and international tourism and airline management, while a new BA in accounting takes its first students at West Lothian College. ENU is considering launching a graduate apprenticeship in accounting to join the eight apprenticeship pathways already available. With around 450 graduate apprentices on roll, ENU is one of the larger apprenticeship providers in Scotland.
Admissions, teaching and student support
About one in three students gained a place in September 2024 with a contextual offer, which lowers the typical ask for a course by between one and three Higher grades. Contextual offers set at the minimum course entry requirements are available in all subjects and given to applicants who have participated in national and local widening participation initiatives, such as the Lothian Equal Access Programme for Schools, those who live in postcodes with the highest levels of deprivation, and those attending schools with below average progression to university which are part of the Schools for Higher Education Programme. Mental health and wellbeing support for all students includes short-term counselling, single-session therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy. Discussion of the emotional and psychological aspects of starting university are built into all welcome sessions in academic schools. The university offers targeted training for all personal development tutors to build their skills and confidence in referring students to wellbeing support and more than 600 staff took part in a range of mental health training options between September 2022 and March 2024. Prior to enrolment, students are offered a number of online courses to help keep them safe at university covering sexual consent; racial, sexual and social tolerance; and being an active bystander. There is mandatory training for sports club and student societies officers on codes of conduct and initiations, diversity and inclusion, and discrimination and bullying.