Join our extraordinary Nursing Community
The University of Edinburgh has been a pioneer in nursing education and has established a long tradition of preparing graduate nurses for impactful careers in healthcare and shaping the future of the nursing profession.
Nursing offers a profound sense of purpose and fulfillment as it involves caring for and making a positive difference in the lives of others. As one of the first universities to offer a nursing degree in the UK, the University of Edinburgh has a long tradition of preparing graduate nurses for impactful careers in healthcare. As one of the top ten universities in the UK to offer Nursing, we provide our students with an experience that is second to none. Find out what it's like to join our close-knit community of international students and staff at the University of Edinburgh.
Nursing Studies is a small and friendly subject area within the School of Health in Social Science. The staff are committed to nursing, care about their students, and support you to develop from an anxious new student into a first-class nurse. The best decision I ever made was to study nursing at Edinburgh.
Track Record of Excellence
Nursing Studies at the University of Edinburgh is consistently ranked highly and this year we celebrated taking 1st place again in the Guardian UK University League Table 2023.
An Insight into our Nursing Research
What can I study?
Nursing Highlights
We take great pride in all the great work our students and staff do in health and care both in Scotland and around the world. Every two years we produce a “Nursing Studies Highlights” report that showcases some of the wonderful contributions our students and staff make to nursing. Below are the most recent reports that you can download and read.
| Nursing Highlights 2013 | Nursing Highlights 2015 |
| Nursing Highlights 2017 | Nursing Highlights 2020 |
Shaping the Future
Our Vision: To meet the needs of the local and global nursing workforce across high and low and middle income countries, to enable them to lead high quality healthcare solutions to the health challenges that arise in their local contexts.
Our Mission: To provide accessible education and development for the global and local nursing workforce and deliver ambitious research to work for social justice and improve health and wellbeing for diverse communities. Through education and research, contribute to high quality healthcare experiences, effective healthcare systems and intervention development and evaluation.
The conversations I took part in at Edinburgh expanded my world-view, both generally and within the healthcare arena. This type of knowledge would not have been accessible to me elsewhere.
Our values
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Compassion
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Diversity and inclusion
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Evidence-based
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Innovation
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Interdisciplinarity
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Person-centredness
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Respect and dignity
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Social justice
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Sustainability
Learn more about what we are doing to elevate and strengthen the influence and impact of nurses and nurse communities around the world through the Edinburgh Global Nursing Initiative:
Edinburgh Global Nursing Initiative
Our History
Nursing Studies at the University of Edinburgh has played a prominent role in shaping nursing education and research across Europe. Established in 1956, Nursing Studies became Europe’s first university-based centre for nursing education and research.
From 1971 to 1994, Scotland's government-funded Nursing Research Unit operated within the department, strengthening its national and international reputation as a major centre for research in nursing.
You can read more about the history of Nursing Studies on the University's dedicated website
Elsie Stephenson
Our School hosts a biannual event to celebrate the life and work of the first Director of the Nursing Studies, Elsie Stephenson. In her post as Director, Elsie oversaw a new training scheme that expected students to graduate in an arts or humanities discipline before taking their nursing qualification. In 1964 a degree programme in nursing was established, as well as a school for overseas students, which was supported by the World Health Organisation.
Find out more about the University's inspiring women in history
Celebrating 60 Years
In 2016 the Department of Nursing Studies celebrated 60 years of world-class nurse education with a focus on two key events:
Royal College of Nursing International Nursing Research Conference