Napier University name change

I found this while cleaning out my harddrive. It was written before the name change went ahead, but i feel it deserves to be here because it’s one instance of my writing that i actually like.

It’s a topic hotter than a McDonald’s apple pie (with the appropriately worded warning label of course). The credit crunch has swallowed the market of one country after another as we hurtle towards global recession and yet the Enlightened Ones of Napier University are still ploughing ahead with the process of rearranging words on their letterhead. Napier University is to become Edinburgh Napier University at the reported cost of £500, 000; at a time where financial prudence would be infinitely more appropriate.

Any student who opposes this measure may as well be rearrange deckchairs on the Titanic; but while they must be relieved that the cost is now nowhere near the initially quoted figure of £2 million, the student body is forced to stand back and watch money being needlessly spent on a vanity instead of on tools for learning.

The more cynical students see it as an attempt to fool foreign students into thinking we have amalgamated with our (supposedly) more prestigious rival – Edinburgh University. Anne-Sophie Hoffmoen, a Napier student has opposed to the move since it was first put on the table last year. “I think it’s a bad idea. I think the university is trying to trick people in to thinking we’re Edinburgh, especially foreign students.

It just seems so unnecessarily expensive. I’ve got to think that surely there must be something more worthwhile we could spend the money on”

The university is considered to be the best modern university in Scotland. It takes its

name from the inventor of logarithms, John Napier, who was born on the site of the main campus at Merchiston. The name might not mean a lot to most people but it certainly means a lot to the students of Napier University. When the change first came to light Aran Simm was president of the NSA. At the time, he fielded hundreds of emails from disgruntled students.  “We’ve never had so many responses to anything like this. The overwhelming message we got from the students is that it’s got to be Napier, people want Napier, people signed up for Napier, it’s a show of pride in the university that we attend.”

In the week between the name change being revealed to the students and the proposition going forward to the Privy Council, the lack consultation time has angered many students, the NSA received nearly 200 emails from students expressing their concerns.

One of those who made his views known was Michael Behr: “I don’t see the point of it. I understand it’s aimed at bringing in more international students but if you don’t know what city you’ll be studying in, I don’t think you are smart enough for University education.

The amount they are spending is too much – even half of that would have been too much.”

The staff, however, see things differently. Rachel Dungar is head of the journalism programme and is all in favour of rebranding the university: “I think it is a good move because [John] Napier is an insider, no one outside of Edinburgh knows who he is. Edinburgh in itself is a brand which is recognised around the world and will help us attract more foreign students.

It’s also normal around the world for universities to have their location as part of their name. At the moment Napier has a unfounded reputation for letting anyone in regardless of their grades but the university is changing – upping its game and a name change is an integral part of this process. I have to admit I also find the new name sexy.”

Christine Tierney, who is in charge of marketing and communication at Napier, agrees that Edinburgh needed to be included in the university’s new name: “98% of students in Newcastle and Belfast did not know we were in Edinburgh that’s why we need to include Edinburgh in the name.”

However, when she was asked outright, even she was unable to justify such excessive spending in a period of global economic recession. A global recession could mean fewer people choosing to leave their home countries and travelling to Scotland to study. As their tuition fees make up a large part of Napier’s current £90 million annual turnover a drop in international students would mean a drop in turnover.

Ms Tierney also dismissed the claim that Napier were attempting to ride on the coat tails of Edinburgh, saying that the feedback from Edinburgh University itself was positive.

But no matter how much the students dislike the new name and the unnecessary cost involved, it would seem Heraclitus was right when he said: “Nothing endures but change”.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

See also:

Students protest censorship