KCL: We’ve spent £300k on the rebrand but we are not legally changing our name

KCL bosses have revealed that they won’t be legally changing the uni’s name, despite splashing £300,000 on the controversial new rebrand.

This is because uni heads have now admitted that they haven’t actually consulted the Privy Council for permission to change the name of the University.

This means that the £300k rebranding bill won’t cover a legal name change.

King’s also won’t alter the website address or @kcl email addresses for the foreseeable future, leading to questions of whether this could hinder brand reinforcement efforts.

Exact reasons for this decision are still unclear, however it has been speculated that it’s because changing everyone’s email would be a total faff.

He’s happy about it

In an internal email sent out this afternoon, Principal Ed Byrne insisted that he understands the “emotional connection” held by the KCL community to “College”.

But he doesn’t understand that much, as the rebranding will still go ahead, meaning that from February 2015 the university will be known as “King’s London”, or “King’s” informally.

The commonly used acronym KCL will be eliminated, as the university thinks “we don’t need acronyms to describe ourselves”.

Of course, it is widely known that acronyms are usually associated with crap universities such as UCL, MIT and LSE.

According to Byrne, the changes will “strengthen our profile in areas such as business, technology and the natural sciences, enhance the student experience, and introduce greater internationalisation to our curriculum and student body.”

It will also get rid of apparently widespread confusion amongst applicants over whether King’s is a university or a sixth form college.

However this is confusion that, according to an anonymous source from within the IT services department, barely exists.

The source told the Tab: “I work near the main telephone switchboard, and I do hear them get calls intended for King’s College Hospital, or parents asking about A-Level courses. But that’s easily less than 10 calls a day,”

In any case, bizarrely, King’s will still not legally change its name, meaning that students will continue to receive degrees from King’s College London.

This may come as some relief to students, such as Thomas Sharpe, a recent graduate who commented on the anti-rebranding petition, which now has nearly 7,000 signatures.

He said: “As a recent graduate, I am concerned that a change in the university’s name would severely damage my employment prospects with employers who would no longer recognise the link with King’s College London.”

But other angry students reckon this half-finished change is a massive waste of time and resources.

Ramona Popescu, a second year politics student, told The Tab: “The fact that it won’t even be a full name change makes the decision even less legitimate. I think the new principal wants to leave his mark on King’s and this seems the easier than dealing with other issues.”

She added: “It shows a complete disregard for what the students and staff of the institution want. His email was a response to the outrage of the proposal and his decision was to disregard the opinions of people at King’s.”

King’s London?

However, responding to criticism that the £300,000 investment could’ve been better spent elsewhere, the university claims that, “Investment is being made across King’s to improve the institution on many levels and position it to take its rightful place as a top 20 global university.”

“We need to enhance our reputation and highlight our many achievements more consistently to attract the best students, staff and research and funding partners.”