Radford University is a public, state-funded university, located in southwestern Virginia, in the town of Radford.

Radford was founded in 1910 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Radford. It was a college for white women. In that era, Virginia segregated public education not only by race, but also by gender. The college was a normal school and offered a two-year degree in "rural arts".

In 1924 the school was renamed the State Teachers College at Radford and began an evolution towards a true college. Its primary focus was on training teachers for the rural Appalachian region nearby. In 1943 the college was renamed the Women's Division of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and merged into what is now known as the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University which was located 15 miles away in Blacksburg, Virginia.

As the 1960s began, Virginia began to desegregate its gender specific schools, and VPI began to admit women on its main campus. This led to a "divorce" in 1964 and a renaming as simply Radford College. Over the next decade, the "finishing school" atmosphere of the school was dismantled. In 1972 the school began to admit men. The school developed a graduate school at that time as well.

In 1979 the school became Radford University. Today the school is a comprehensive state university with about 9,000 students. About 45% of the students come from southwestern Virginia, 40% from other parts of Virginia, and 15% from out of state.

While there is some program overlap with nearby Virginia Tech, Radford places its emphysis on teacher education and the liberal arts, and has a very low teacher to student ration, with Tech places its on technical and scientific fields.

In sports the schools teams are known as the Highlanders in honor of the Scottish heritage of the region, and compete in the Big South Conference.