Queen Margaret University

Queen Margaret University was founded in 1875 as the Edinburgh School of Cookery and Domestic Economy, by Christian Guthrie Wright and Louisa Stevenson, both members of the Edinburgh Ladies’ Educational Association. The school was founded as a women-only institution, with twin aims of improving women’s access to higher education and improving the diets of working-class families. Its first lectures took place before huge audiences in the Royal Museum in Edinburgh’s Chambers Street. The institution took the name Queen Margaret in 1972, after the 11th-century Scottish queen, who was seen to personify its values of serving the community and enhancing the quality of life. It gained full degree powers in 1998, became Queen Margaret University College in 1999, and was awarded full university status in January 2007. In 2025 it celebrated the 150th anniversary of its foundation. Today Queen Margaret University is a public university in Musselburgh, East Lothian, near Edinburgh, with around 6,800 students from more than 90 countries. It is known for its person-centred, career-focused teaching in health, the arts, social sciences and management, and for its research in speech science, health and the older person’s agenda.