Queen Margaret University is a public university in Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland. It is named after the Scottish Queen Saint Margaret (1045–1093).

The university can trace its origins to The Edinburgh School of Cookery and Domestic Economy founded in 1875. Queen Margaret University College was awarded full university status becoming Queen Margaret University in January 2007.

The university was founded in Edinburgh in the year 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. Teaching was initially delivered via lectures at the Royal Museum, supplemented by a programme of public lectures and demonstrations delivered nationwide, but in 1877 the school established a base at Shandwick Place, in Haymarket.

The school moved in 1891 to Atholl Crescent, expanding its courses and offering residential places to students. In the same year, HRH Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll became Patron of the institution until her death in 1939. In 1909, the school was designated a central institution and brought under the public control of the Scottish Education Department. The first principal appointed was Ethel De la Cour. De la Cour retired in 1930, and in the same year the school became the Edinburgh College of Domestic Science.

In 1961, the college acquired its Corstorphine campus, purchasing a portion of the Clermiston estate from developers. The campus was first occupied by the college in 1970, opened by HRH Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester who had become Patron of the institution in 1940 and remained Patron until her death. In 1972, the name Queen Margaret was adopted to dissociate the college from the narrow field of domestic science. Thereafter, the college broadened its range of courses, especially in the dramatic arts and paramedical healthcare fields. The following institutions have since been absorbed by Queen Margaret:

In 1992, the Privy Council granted Queen Margaret College powers to award its own taught degrees, and in 1998, the college was granted full degree powers, which enabled it to award its own research and higher degrees. As a result, in January 1999 the institution took the name Queen Margaret University College. After the University College attained the final criteria of acquiring a minimum of 5000 students (something that could not be gained earlier as the former campuses could not accommodate that number of students), the institution was awarded full university status, becoming Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh in January 2007.

In 2012, QMU became the first university in Scotland to have a Business Gateway on campus.

Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond announced in May 2010 that QMU was to be the official host of the archives for Homecoming Scotland 2009. The Homecoming Scotland Archive will collect, catalogue and preserve materials associated with Scottish Homecoming 2009.