UEA says UEE is no name for new Anglia University

Anglia Polytechnic University has moved to banish the word "polytechnic" from its name, but not without a row with its neighbour, the University of East Anglia.

Governors at APU this week unanimously agreed to a new name - the University of Eastern of England at Cambridge and Chelmsford. The Privy Council will now be asked to approve the re-branding.

Research showed widespread confusion over the institution's six-year status as a university. The name change represents severance of its last explicit links with its identity pre-1992, the year polytechnics became universities.

The inclusion of the main campus locations in the title is thought by many staff to be unwieldy, but is considered necessary by the Privy Council, to ensure a clear distinction between the university and the neighbouring University of East Anglia. The university hopes that the lengthy name will be informally reduced to the University of Eastern England.

However, managers at the University of East Anglia are not happy. A spokeswoman for UEA said that the university was "strongly opposed" to the change and "very concerned" that it will add to the confusion.

The initials - UEE and UEA - are too similar, UEA said, and in many other languages, the names would translate identically.

APU director of marketing, Roy Newson, acknowledged that the Privy Council may yet reject the proposal, but said the university was determined to change its name. He said: "Our staff and our students are unified in their desire to change APU's name, our customers and partners are on our side, and now we have the unanimous support of our governors behind the application. Because of this level of support, I am confident we will succeed."

Research by APU showed that potential students and local businesses believed that the university was among those teaching-based institutions aspiring to status, rather than a university.

"The proposed new name was produced as the result of a wide- ranging search for a name that clearly and unambiguously shows our university status and well demonstrates our local and regional focus," said Mr Newson.

"Above all the name is simple, clear and understandable by everyone," he added.