The college was renamed Napier Polytechnic in 1986 and in the same year acquired the former Hydropathic hospital buildings at Craiglockhart.

At a ceremony witnessed by over 700 staff and students, Lord James Douglas Hamilton and the then Principal, William Turmeau, unveiled the new university sign at Merchiston.

This recognised the contribution made by the university's Building Performance Centre towards improving sound insulation between attached dwellings.

The campus includes a five-storey learning resource centre, 25 specialised teaching rooms including clinical skills laboratories, three IT-enabled lecture theatres and seminar rooms, a clinical skills suite and integrated sports facilities.

In 2016, the gym facilities at Sighthill became home to the SRU Fosroc Scottish Rugby Academy Edinburgh.

The Merchiston Campus is home to the Schools of Art & Creative Industries, and Computing, Engineering & the Built Environment.

It is built around the refurbished shell of Merchiston Castle, the family home of John Napier, after whom the university is named.

[15] The campus also includes the 500-seat, 24-hour Jack Kilby Computing Centre, named after the inventor of integrated circuits and the handheld calculator.

Facilities for students include a computer game laboratory, and professional music studios and in 2016, TV presenter and University alumna Lorraine Kelly officially opened a new integrated broadcast journalism newsroom.

[18] The Edinburgh-born president of industry group UKspace is also a former executive at the Virgin Group, and also holds boardroom roles at The Scottish Gallery Employee Ownership Trust, Scottish Event Campus, Craneware, Good Energy and AAC Clyde Space AB.

Edinburgh Napier University is an internationally award-winning institution that has been twice recognised by the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education (in 2009[21] and 2015[22]) for its work in timber engineering, sustainable construction and wood science.

Patrons of the academy include Dame Judi Dench and Brian Cox, with Tilda Swinton an ambassador.

[citation needed] In April 2022, a "Skills Workbook", published by the university's midwifery programme and used to educate students, was leaked to the website Reduxx.

In response to the claims made by the university's workbook, Elaine Miller, a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, stated "it is not possible for a male person to get pregnant".

Dr. Susan Bewley, Professor Emeritus in Obstetrics and Women's Health at King's College London called the materials "puzzling", and further stated "The writers seem to have left school remarkably ignorant of basic biology, sex, and anatomy".