Bolton and Uclan given regulator clearance to rebrand

Two modern universities in north-west England have won their fight to rebrand themselves after the Office for Students (OfS) rejected claims by older neighbouring institutions that the proposed names were likely to cause significant confusion and would potentially mislead applicants.

Despite objections from the University of Manchester that plans by the University of Bolton to become the “University of Greater Manchester” would be “very confusing and misleading”, England’s higher education regulator has announced that it will permit the name change.

At the same time, the OfS has also approved the University of Central Lancashire’s bid to change its name to the University of Lancashire – a move that was opposed by Lancaster University on the grounds that it would be “very confusing”, not least because its own official title is the “University of Lancaster”.

In its ruling on the Bolton decision, the OfS explains that it had received 1,885 responses regarding the proposed new name, of which 64 per cent (1,187 responses) felt the Greater Manchester moniker would not be confusing, with 36 per cent stating it did have the potential to mislead.

Noting that the “proposed name may have the potential to be confusing for particular groups of stakeholders, including for example those for whom English is not their first language or who have difficulties in distinguishing or processing information”, the OfS ruled that “most instances of potential confusion are unlikely to lead to any material harm or cause detriment”.

“In this particular case, we placed weight on the OfS’s general duties to have due regard to the need to protect the institutional autonomy of English higher education providers and the need to encourage competition between English higher education providers in connection with the provision of higher education,” it added.

“We consider that these duties weigh in favour of consenting to the proposed name,” it concluded.

On the Uclan’s bid to change its name to Lancashire, some 90 per cent of the 1,812 respondents to the OfS’s consultation considered the name to have the potential to be misleading or confusing, explained the regulator in its ruling.

However, while the regulator felt there might be potential for confusion among international students and “current and prospective students who may be less easily able to distinguish between the similar sounds of the providers’ names,” it deemed there was “sufficient difference between the provider’s new name and other providers’ names to enable the majority of students and other stakeholders to differentiate between the two names”.

“This is because stakeholders are used to distinguishing similar names of higher education providers including through the use of contextual information,” it said.

“We took the view that the proposed name is not inherently confusing or misleading; the provider’s main campus is located in Lancashire and its previous name (University of Central Lancashire) already contained the name of the county,” it concluded, adding that “most instances of potential confusion were unlikely to lead to any material harm or detriment”.

Welcoming the decision, Uclan’s vice-chancellor Graham Baldwin said he expected the university to be fully operating under its new name by September 2025, with campus signage likely to change before then.

“Changing our name to the University of Lancashire better reflects our regional economic importance and will aid continuing efforts to raise brand awareness further afield,” said Professor Baldwin, whose institution has campuses in Preston, Burnley and West Cumbria.

“Attracting more people to live and study in the north-west is an important strategic objective we share with local government. Changing our name allows us to better cement our brand position and build on our recruitment efforts both nationally and internationally,” he added.

Bolton’s long-standing vice-chancellor, George Holmes, has said the university’s commitment to the town is “unswerving” but the new name would “more accurately portray what the university has become in recent years: serving and operating in the whole area of Greater Manchester, not just one borough within it”.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com