Dear all
I am writing to advise that the University’s Council has today made a unanimous
draft decision to recommend the simplification of the University’s legal name to University
of Wellington. Council has also made a
draft decision to adopt Te Herenga Waka as
our new Māori name and to maintain the use and heritage of the word ‘Victoria’ in a
meaningful way by the ongoing use of the word in the life of the University.
I want to express my deep appreciation to those of you who have provided a
submission and to convey that both I and the Council recognise that there are a range
of views about the proposal.
Council has released the decision paper and the research and analysis that
underpinned this draft decision, which is one part of a wider programme of work to
build our international reputation. I invite you to review that information.
However, what the paper does not convey is the strength of feelings we share about
the future.
One of these is pride. Pride in our City. Pride in this University. It is time for this
wonderful University to firmly tie its fortunes to the capital city and declare once and
for all that we are the University of Wel ington. That we are
of this great city, not just
in this city. That we share a common destiny and that we all aspire for Wel ington to be
one of the world’s great student cities.
We are also ambitious. We are an excellent University but we are restless to do even
better. To become one of the world’s great global-civic universities. To deepen the
intellectual and creative influence of our University and of Wellington in the Asia-
Pacific region and beyond.
Council members making this draft decision shared a strong sense of respect and
empathy. Respect for the different views expressed on this issue. Respect for our
Victoria heritage and a determination to protect this legacy. Empathy for the inevitable
sense of loss that many wil feel as they come to terms with the draft decision made
today. Respect for the ambitious future we all aspire to.
Kind regards
Grant Guilford
Draft decision of the University Council regarding the name of the University
Executive summary
The University Council has made a draft decision:
1. to make a recommendation to the Minister of Education under section 162(5)
of the Education Act 1989 that the legal name of the University be changed
from Victoria University of Wel ington to University of Wel ington;
2. subject to the Minister’s approval of a change in name to University of
Wel ington, to change the University’s Māori name from Te Whare Wānanga o
Te Ūpoko O Te Ika a Māui to Te Herenga Waka; and
3. subject to the Minister’s approval of a change in name to University of
Wel ington, to maintain the use and heritage of the word Victoria in a
meaningful way by the ongoing use of the word Victoria in the life of the
University.
The draft decision fol ows a project that has examined whether a simplification of the
University’s legal name to University of Wel ington would better align with the
University’s global–civic vision, mission and strategic positioning as New Zealand’s
global y ranked capital city university, and help differentiate the University
international y.
This document outlines the background to the re-consideration of the University’s
name, the objectives of the project, the relevant legislative framework, the process
used, the research, analysis and engagement undertaken, the observations made, the
advice and feedback received, the financial considerations, the implementation plan,
the key risks and mitigations, the conclusions reached and the draft decision.
Next steps
Council wil consider further and final feedback on its draft decision, which was made
fol owing an earlier opportunity to provide feedback and consideration of that feedback
by the Council.
Your feedback is important as it wil enable the Council to make a more informed final
decision on this important matter.
You can provide feedback by writing your comments in a letter or an email. Feedback
closes at 5pm on Monday 13 August 2018.
Submissions made by mail or email should be addressed to:
Mail: The Chancel or
Victoria University of Wel ington
PO Box 600
Wel ington 6140
1
Email: [email address]
Council wil again consider al responses provided before making a final decision. This
is expected to be made on 27 August 2018.
Key insights
The draft decision to simplify the University’s legal name has come fol owing a
substantial process of research, analysis, third-party advice, wide engagement and
consideration of feedback provided. That work has highlighted the fol owing insights,
considered against the name-change criteria for tertiary education institutions recently
announced by the Ministry of Education.
1. The purpose and potential benefits of the recommended name change are clear,
there are compel ing reasons for change and the proposed name wil help the
University advance its strategic plan, mission and statutory characteristics.
• The name University of Wel ington aligns implicitly with the University’s global–
civic vision, mission and strategic positioning as New Zealand’s global y
ranked capital city university—unlike the current name and its commonly used
abbreviations such as Vic, Victoria and Victoria University;
• A change of name to University of Wel ington more visibly identifies the
University’s commitment to Wel ington, tightly linking our futures;
• The name University of Wel ington highlights more clearly than the current
name and its abbreviations the institution’s pre-eminence in Wel ington relative
to the other universities here;
• The University’s international prominence and name recognition are not in
keeping with our high academic quality, resulting in part from confusion with
our Victoria University namesakes;
• Attribution of our research and other achievements to other universities
sharing the word ‘Victoria’ is a regular occurrence, undermining our
international prominence, reputation and rankings;
• There is widespread confusion over the University’s current name, with web
searches for the University using up to 15 related name variants and our staff
regularly using up to eight name variants to describe their institutional
affiliation;
• This confusion and uncertainty, along with translation difficulties in some
countries, reduce the cost-effectiveness of marketing investment and
undermine the University’s ability to develop a strong global brand;
• Simplifying the University’s name to University of Wel ington largely eliminates
these problems by dramatical y reducing the number of possible name variants
(from ten to two)1 and by removing the non-specific name Victoria that creates
the confusion with our namesakes;
• The commonly used abbreviation Victoria University is particularly problematic
for the University when used offshore as it is often linked to Victoria
universities in Canada, Australia or elsewhere;
• The ranking agencies QS and THE believe the name simplification wil be
beneficial for the University’s international reputation;
1 When including the word university but excluding one-word abbreviations or acronyms.
2
• New Zealand universities are reliant on their international reputation to give
effect to their statutory characteristics;
• The benefits of enhanced global prominence include improved rankings,
better-quality international partnerships, increased international student
numbers, growth of overseas research funding and philanthropy, and better
retention and recruitment of world-leading staff.
2. The potential implications and risks of a name change are understood and wil be
managed.
• Prospective international students as a group did not show a preference for
the University’s current name on the basis of name only (i.e., with no
contextual information), preferring the name University of Wel ington, New
Zealand;
• The extensive brand research conducted by the University of Manchester in
dropping Victoria from its name, and the direct feedback from its staff as to
their experience and the implications of its name change, provide support for
the benefits of a simplified name;
• The potential financial and non-financial upsides of the investment far
outweigh the estimated costs;
• Costs wil be managed prudently with the level of expenditure to be kept within
assessed benefits;
• Signage and other changes will be rol ed out as part of business as usual, over
time, wherever possible;
• External review of the name simplification project (by brand and
communications company Assignment) revealed the project to be sound from
a brand perspective;
• Alumni and graduates wil be able to request replacement certificates and
transcripts under the new name if that is their preference;
• University clubs and societies have been kept informed of the proposed
change but wil be free to make their own decisions regarding their name;
• While looking to the future in making this change, the University is cognisant of
the heritage of the word Victoria and the pride many people feel in their
association with this name. A prominent scholar of Victorian-era literature will
lead work on how we can honour this heritage;
• Risks have been clearly identified and are assessed as being manageable
with effective mitigations available.
3. Feedback from potential y affected parties has been sought, has been used to
guide recommendations and approach. There is support for the proposed name
change
• The University has taken a proactive approach to communication and
engagement on the potential name change—both internal y and external y,
and within New Zealand and internationally, over the past six months;
• Feedback has been sought, using a fair and transparent process, from a wide
range of affected parties, and all of the feedback was considered prior to the
draft decision being made;
• Feedback has been made available in ful to Council Members;
• Face-to-face and written feedback from staff, student executive groups,
Foundation Trustees, other universities, Māori, civic leaders, other
stakeholders, and alumni working in universities offshore has been general y
3
positive; however, written feedback from other alumni, students and members
of the public has been predominantly negative;
• Feedback revealed strong interest in changing the Māori name of the
University and was instrumental in the draft decision to continue to use the
word Victoria in the life of the University;
• Feedback also shaped a number of the implementation processes (such as
the approach to ensure al current graduates have the graduation
documentation they require, and the requirement for a flexible arrangement of
the legal and Māori names in the redesigned University logo);
• Individuals familiar with the complexities and impact of a university’s
international research and teaching reputation (for example, alumni working at
other international universities, academic staff, participants in the tertiary
sector) are most likely to understand and accept the rationale and support the
name change.
The above points are considered in more detail later in this paper.
4
1.0
Background
Victoria University of Wel ington’s strategic plan2 outlines an ambitious vision to be a
world-leading capital city university and one of the great global–civic universities.
Victoria University of Wel ington’s character as a capital city university was first
suggested in 1886 by the University’s founder, Robert Stout, during his advocacy for
the establishment of Wel ington University Col ege. Today, Victoria University of
Wel ington views this mandate of civic engagement in a global context and is
determined to ensure that its local communities benefit from the University’s
international y respected academic excel ence. The strategic positioning of the
University as New Zealand’s global y ranked capital city university differentiates it from
other universities. This special character resonates strongly with our staff and
stakeholders in Wel ington, reflecting our history and embodying three pil ars as
outlined in our strategic plan.
First, the University focuses deliberately on New Zealand, its principal community of
interest. Aotearoa New Zealand is an egalitarian society with deep roots in the Pacific
and Europe, a unique bicultural heritage and an Asia–Pacific future. Second, the
University steadfastly works to enhance its international reputation. Building a strong
international reputation, in addition to its strong domestic reputation, is critical if the
University is to have a sustainable future. This university, like al others in New
Zealand, is now heavily dependent on international staff and students. Our staff also
have a strongly held ambition to be ranked with the world’s best universities. Third,
consistent with our mission and the civic–university tradition, Victoria University of
Wel ington engages closely with the capital city. This affords its staff and students
privileged access to political, public sector, legal, diplomatic, cultural, media and non-
governmental organisations, as wel as to the nation’s archived heritage. This civic
engagement provides the opportunity to enrich national culture and to lead thinking on
major societal, economic and environmental issues.
When careful y considering these three pil ars for their future fit, it became apparent to
the leadership of the University that the name Victoria University of Wel ington (and, in
particular, its commonly used abbreviations such as Vic, Victoria and Victoria
University) do not align wel with the University’s position as New Zealand’s global y
ranked capital city university. Civic universities (including global–civic universities) are
first and foremost about their city and are prepared to tie their fortunes to their city’s
future success. Wel ington is our city—not Victoria.
Lastly, during efforts to enhance the University’s international reputation, evidence
began to accumulate from a variety of sources that the University’s international
reputation was not in keeping with its very high academic quality. This observation
was of concern because of the ever-increasing importance of the University
maintaining international competitiveness with the world’s great universities.
Preliminary research and analysis suggested this need to further enhance the
international reputation of the University was partly due to the complexity of the
University’s name and its lack of distinctiveness from other universities named
Victoria.
Accordingly, a formal project (hereafter referred to as the ‘name simplification project’
or the ‘project’) was established to examine whether the simplification of the
2 https://www.victoria.ac.nz/documents/policy/strategies/strategic-plan.pdf
5
University’s legal name to University of Wel ington would not only align better with the
University’s vision and positioning, but also help differentiate the University
internationally.3
1.1
Objectives of the project
As discussed above, an important objective of the project was to consider whether
name simplification would achieve better alignment between the names of the
University and Wel ington city as per the University’s global–civic vision, its mission,
and its strategic positioning as New Zealand’s global y ranked capital city university.
Another key objective of the project (and the wider international reputation programme
within which it sits) was to consider whether name simplification would help
differentiate the University international y with the goal of increasing international
name recognition and memorability, and enhancing international prominence.
The fol ow-on benefits of enhanced global prominence are numerous and include
improved rankings, better-quality international partnerships, increased international
student numbers, growth of overseas research funding and philanthropy, and better
retention and recruitment of world-leading staff.
1.2
Legislative framework for changing the legal name of a university
The power to change a university’s legal name is vested in the Minister of Education
under section 162(5) of the Education Act 1989. This states:
“the Minister may, on the recommendation of the council of the
institution concerned, change the name of an institution by notice
published in the Gazette.”
Victoria University of Wel ington is an ‘institution’ for the purposes of the Education
Act 1989 and therefore this power can be exercised in relation to the University
notwithstanding section 3(1) of the Victoria University of Wel ington Act 1961 which
states:
“For the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination and
maintenance thereof by teaching and research there shal be a
University to be cal ed the Victoria University of Wel ington.”
The Victoria University of Wel ington Act 1961 (and a smal number of other pieces
of legislation that refer directly to Victoria University of Wel ington) wil need to be
amended fol owing the Minister’s decision. This could be done by inclusion of the
relevant amendments in a future Statutes Amendment Bil or Education Act
Amendment Bil .
The Education Act does not set out any limits on the Minister’s power in section
162(5) nor any mandatory considerations for exercising it. The Minister therefore
has wide discretion.
3 It is important to note that the name simplification project to reconsider the University’s name is just one
part of a wider programme of work on improving the international reputation of the University. This
programme is investigating and implementing a series of initiatives to increase the international
prominence and name recognition of the University.
6
However, the Ministry of Education has identified four criteria that the Minister wil
have regard to in assessing a recommendation. These are:
1. The purpose and potential benefits of the recommended
name change are clearly set out There are reasonable grounds and good reasons to change the
name of a tertiary education institution (TEI). This wil include how
a recommended name would help the TEI advance its mission
and statutory characteristics.
2. The potential implications of a recommended name change
have been considered This wil include the potential implications for the community the
TEI serves, including the staff, graduates, and students of the
institution. It wil include how a name change relates to the
interests of the tertiary education system and New Zealand. It
should also include how the TEI council would manage these
implications.
3. Relevant and affected parties have been consulted and
their feedback has been considered The council has provided relevant stakeholders such as the staff,
students and graduates of the TEI with sufficient opportunity to
provide their views on the recommended name change.
Consultation should be undertaken in a fair and transparent
manner, and over a reasonable period of time, for stakeholders to
submit their views. The council should also demonstrate how it
has considered the perspectives raised through consultation
before making the final decision to recommend a name change.
4. The council can demonstrate that there is support for a
name change The council should provide evidence that there is demonstrable
support for a name change from the relevant affected parties
consulted as per criterion 3.
If the council confirms its draft decision and makes a recommendation to the
Minister, the council must reflect the above criteria, act fairly, reasonably, and in
accordance with the law (including sections 161 and section 181 of the Education
Act). Those sections are:
161
Academic freedom
(1)
It is declared to be the intention of Parliament in enacting the
provisions of this Act relating to institutions that academic freedom
and the autonomy of institutions are to be preserved and
enhanced.
181
Duties of councils
It is the duty of the council of an institution, in the performance of
its functions and the exercise of its powers,—
(a) to strive to ensure that the institution attains the highest
standards of excel ence in education, training, and research:
7
(b) to acknowledge the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi:
(c) to encourage the greatest possible participation by the
communities served by the institution so as to maximise the
educational potential of al members of those communities
with particular emphasis on those groups in those
communities that are under-represented among the students
of the institution:
(d) to ensure that the institution does not discriminate unfairly
against any person:
(e) to ensure that the institution operates in a financial y
responsible manner that ensures the efficient use of
resources and maintains the institution’s long-term viability:
(f) to ensure that proper standards of integrity, conduct, and
concern for—
(i) the public interest; and
(ii) the wel -being of students attending the institution—
are maintained.
1.3
Process
The process conducted to date to examine whether the name simplification is in the
best interests of the University—and whether the proposal meets the name change
criteria for tertiary education institutions recently announced by the Ministry of
Education—is outlined in detail in section 2.0 and summarised below.
In summary, this process has included market research and analysis, stakeholder
engagement, third-party engagement on specific topic areas (for example, external
brand advice), consideration of feedback, planning for implementation, and preparing
this draft decision.
If the Council confirms its draft decision, the next steps in the process would be to
send a letter of recommendation to the Minister of Education under section 162(5) of
the Education Act and to initiate the implementation work detailed in section 5 of this
paper.
2.0
Research, analysis and engagement
To help evaluate the pros and cons of simplification of the University’s name, seven
areas of work have been conducted:
•
International research on the name Victoria University of Wellington and
potential alternative names: This work was conducted through internal
analysis, third-party research with international students and agents,
discussions with senior staff, ranking agencies, university brand experts, and
institutions that had been through a similar name change. This work focused
on the ideal attributes of a university name and the performance of the current
name in international markets, and informed the choice of the proposed
simplified name—University of Wel ington—for wider stakeholder discussions.
See section 2.1 for a summary of the observations from this work.
8
•
Library analysis, Google Trends and Google Analytics: This work utilised
modern data-analytical approaches to examine the consistency of use of the
current name within the University and in the media, and the performance of
the current name and its common variants in web searches around the world.
See section 2.2 for a summary of this work.
•
Consideration of a change to our Māori name: As consultation began on
the possible change of the University’s legal name, suggestions were soon
received that consideration should be given to a change of our Māori name.
Although the current Māori name, Te Whare Wānanga o Te Ūpoko o te Ika a
Māui, is a translation of University of Wel ington, it was decided to consider a
new Māori name for the University as part of the name simplification project.
See section 2.3 for a summary of this work that led to the recommendation of
Te Herenga Waka.
•
External review by Assignment: Fol owing a competitive process, an
external agency, Assignment, was engaged to provide an external review of
the proposed name simplification project. Assignment’s engagement with the
University was from May to July 2018. Its first task was to peer review the
University’s approach based on its previous experiences of brand refreshes.
See section 2.4 for a summary of this work.
•
Discussions and feedback on University of Wellington and possible
Māori names: This included discussions with staff, students, alumni,
stakeholders and other members of the public. Feedback was provided
through face to face, email and letter submissions, and social media
comments on the University’s Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages. Detailed
analysis and consideration was undertaken of al feedback received. See
section 2.5 for further discussion of this process.
•
Securing trademarks and domain names: Trademark applications for the
words University of Wel ington have been filed and relevant domain names
secured in order to protect the potential new names.
•
Engagement with the Minister of Education and officials at the Ministry of
Education: The Minister of Education was advised that we were investigating
a potential name change by a letter dated 28 February 2018. Since that time,
brief discussions have been held with staff at the Ministry of Education to
inform them of the process and provide information to answer questions. Staff
at the Tertiary Education Commission have also been kept informed about the
proposal as part of this process.
This process has spanned from 15 February 2017 to today, with research, analysis
and discussions occurring up to July 2018, and wider engagement, consideration of
feedback and third-party design work taking place from May 2018 to July 2018.
2.1
Observations from international research
A summary of the international research and discussions conducted on the
University’s name is contained in Appendix A. Key observations from this work are:
• The University’s international prominence and name recognition is not in
keeping with our high academic quality.
• A number of Victoria Universities exist worldwide and our name is often
confused with these organisations. Similarly, our work is regularly incorrectly
9
reported and credited to these organisations. Of particular note are Victoria
University (in Victoria, Australia; https://www.vu.edu.au) and the University of
Victoria (in Victoria, the capital city of British Columbia, Canada;
https://www.uvic.ca).
• International y, the name Victoria is not usual y or intuitively associated with
our location in Wel ington.
• Even when our ful name of Victoria University of Wellington is used, some
people—especial y Australians—stil assume we are related to the Australian
Victoria University (i.e., a subsidiary thereof). This is an understandable
assumption given it is named Victoria University and we are named Victoria
University of Wel ington.
• The many different variants of the University’s name are used inconsistently
and often lack significance when used outside New Zealand, compromising
recal . For example, the meanings of Vic, Victoria and VUW aren’t obvious to
offshore audiences, and Vic is more strongly associated with the University of
Victoria (in Canada), which refers to itself as UVic.
• The length of the ful name of Victoria University of Wel ington also creates
translation difficulties in some countries. For instance, in China, our largest
international market, the translation of our ful name requires an unwieldy nine
characters. Consequently, the three characters for Wel ington often get
dropped to make the name shorter as Victoria University—losing the linkage to
Wel ington. Col oquial y, this is often reduced further to just two characters. If
the proposal to simplify the name to University of Wel ington is adopted, in the
ful form our name would have five characters, similar to the names of other
universities.
• The issues listed in the bul et points above compromise the international
distinctiveness, clarity and ‘memorability’ of the name of the University, making
it more difficult for the University to consistently link its achievements to its
current name and build a strong international reputation.
• This research and analysis suggest that the simplified name, University of
Wel ington, wil reduce confusion, increase the attribution of its achievements
to this university and, over time, improve its international reputation.
• Colmar Brunton research on more than 2,800 international students and in-
depth discussions with international agents show:
o In itself, name plays a modest role in international students’ study
choice, explaining about 11 percent of each choice. The impact of an
institution’s name is most important early in the decision-making
process. Notably, at this early stage, the recruitment pipeline is at its
widest and the choice between the universities vast.
o Much larger gains in preference result from rises in the international
prestige of a university or of particular subject areas taught by a
university. Col ectively, institutional and subject-area prestige account
for approximately 75 percent of each choice. These data suggest that a
name change would be beneficial if it helps the University improve
prestige, for example, by helping lift academic-reputation survey scores
10
and rankings. Conversely, it would be detrimental if it causes the
University to lose ground in the rankings.
o The name University of Wel ington, New Zealand and University of
New Zealand, Wel ington were the most preferred names of those
surveyed, with these preferred significantly more frequently than
Victoria University of Wel ington.
o There was no preference as a group shown for Victoria University of
Wel ington by the international students surveyed on the basis of name
alone (i.e. with no contextual information).
o Victoria University of Wel ington, New Zealand was not tested as a
name. This was considered to be too unwieldy as a future brand name
and to remain susceptible to abbreviation to Victoria University with the
resultant offshore confusion with namesakes.
o In our key international markets, University of Wel ington, New Zealand
scored better than University of New Zealand, Wel ington.
• Both the QS and THE rankings agencies advised that the name change would
be positive for the University—see Appendix A. This assessment was based
on the advice of the marketing professionals working for the agencies, which
considered both the University’s current name and their experience of similar
name changes made by other universities.
o They saw name ‘recognition’, ‘differentiation’ and ‘memorability’ as
essential if a university aspires to global brand prominence. They
argued that the only way to gain prominence with a name that wasn’t
easily recognised, differentiated and memorable was to keep paying for
marketing campaigns to remind people of the existence of the brand—
an approach they doubted had any merit in a modestly resourced
tertiary system such as New Zealand.
o QS and THE also suggested the University extend its international
outreach as part of a wider reputation-building programme.
• Discussions with the University of Manchester (formerly Victoria University of
Manchester) regarding its name change and the extensive research it
conducted on this highlighted:
o Two words (i.e., two nouns) are better than three in a university's
name;
o One of the words has to be ‘university’;
o The second word should be the city, provided the city has reasonable
international name recognition and cachet;
o Capitalising the word ‘The’ is valuable to emphasise that your university
is the principle university of your city; and
o Including the establishment date of older universities adds prestige.
• Advice from international agents and the University of Manchester revealed
that the addition of a third word to a university’s name tends to diminish the
university’s pre-eminence in a city. The third word implies the university is but
one of many universities in the city rather than the main university.
2.2 Observations from Library analysis, Google Trends and Google Analytics
11
Library analysis
The University’s Library undertook a retrospective analysis of the consistency with
which staff used the University’s correct name in their research outputs. This analysis
revealed staff regularly used up to eight variants of the University’s name,
compromising capture by databases of our research outputs. This inconsistency has
been raised as problematic by the Library on regular occasions, but staff continue to
both inadvertently and deliberately use particular name variants of the University’s ful
name, and inconsistency remains widespread. Notably, simplifying the University’s
name from three words (nouns) to two words largely eliminates this problem by
dramatical y reducing the number of possible name variants.
The Library also undertook an evaluation of the frequency with which the University’s
name was used correctly in the media. It quickly became apparent that a high
percentage of media articles attribute our work poorly, incorrectly or not at al to the
University.
The first group of examples below are from a media scan from the first week of July
2018:
• https://www.prachachat.net/education/news-183324—this article written in
Thai has us listed as Victoria University
• https://eco.pt/2018/07/08/como-evitar-que-a-crise-da-empresa-vizinha-se-
torna-sua/—this article in Portuguese has us as a “Victoria professor,
University of Wellington”
• https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/meet-man-interprets-pm-s-
speeches-into-sign-language-v1—refers to us as Victoria University
• https://www.nzherald.co.nz/teaching/news/article.cfm?c_id=337&objectid=120
81595—refers to the Confucius Institute at Victoria University
• https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/developer-biological-electronic-nose-supreme-
winner-research-commercialisation-awards-fr—refers to Victoria University’s
engineering faculty.
These recent examples are from
Newsroom and
The Conversation—two media
outlets with national and international reach that we have specifical y targeted to grow
our prominence among academics who are regular readers of these outlets.
• https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/07/09/146284/govt-signs-off-23b-nzdf-
plane-deal—Centre for Strategic Studies, Victoria University
• https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/06/07/114825/zero-carbon-plan-weighs-
softer-targets-for-farms—Victoria University
• https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/05/23/110810/five-minutes-with-an-ice-
scientist—Victoria University, Antarctic Research Centre
• https://theconversation.com/nordic-prisons-less-crowded-less-punitive-better-
staffed-12885—Victoria School of Wel ington
• https://theconversation.com/scotland-decides-14-the-conversation-expert-
panel-24651—Victoria University, New Zealand.
The Library staff noted that articles by media organisations (and other publications)
reach “so many people and it is such a waste when we are affiliated incorrectly”. Loss
of such media coverage is very detrimental to the University’s wider reputation and
prominence.
12
The Library and the Academic Office were also asked for advice on the official
convention for abbreviating the current name of the University. In 2011, Victoria
University of Wel ington adopted the use of the abbreviation
Wel for citing
qualifications in the University
Calendar and other publications, and formalised this in
2013 in the citation style guide for the
Calendar. This official abbreviation is thus
already in keeping with the proposed simplified name of University of Wel ington.
Google Trends
A Google Trends
4 analysis was used to examine the search volumes for Victoria
University of Wel ington, Victoria University and University of Wel ington. This analysis
provides a way to estimate name/brand prominence (and recal ) across the world. A
summary of the key findings is provided below. More detail is in Appendix B.
• The name Victoria University of
Wel ington is searched infrequently worldwide
in comparison with the names of the other New Zealand universities, and this
is consistent with a comparatively low name/brand prominence.
• In most of the major overseas cities and regions from which we draw our
international students, the University of Victoria (in Canada) and Victoria
University (in Australia) are searched more frequently than Victoria University
of Wellington and this is evidence of low name/brand prominence in
comparison with our namesakes.
• People searching Victoria University of Wel ington also searched
approximately 15 related name variants of our name, the most popular of
which were ‘VUW’, ‘Victoria’, ‘Victoria University’, ‘Wel ington’, ‘Wel ington
University’, ‘Wel ington Victoria’, ‘University of Wel ington’ and ‘University of
Victoria’ – echoing the name confusion also observed among our staff.
• Victoria University of Wel ington, Victoria University (Australia) and University
of Victoria (British Columbia) al share the related search terms of Victoria,
Victoria University and University of Victoria—indicating a lack of consistent
differentiation between these three universities in the initial search.
• When the worldwide search volume for Victoria University is broken down by
cities, it confirms that the term Victoria University has different meanings in
New Zealand, Australia, North America, Africa and Asia.
• The term University of Wel ington is currently being searched worldwide at
about 25–33 percent of the frequency of Victoria University of Wel ington, but
this varies by region from 0 percent to 56 percent—an indication of the need to
promote the new name if a change is approved.
• Comparison of ‘related search terms’ suggests that most people worldwide
who search for University of Wel ington are looking for our university, whereas
most people who search for Victoria University are not—supporting the view
that the term University of Wel ington is distinctive.
4 Google Trends is a web application that al ows comparisons of how often particular search
terms are entered relative to other search terms in the various regions and cities of the world.
The tool also al ows an assessment of the related topics and queries searched by those
searching the term of interest.
13
• The search volume for Wel ington City is not as high as more prominent global
cities, suggesting it may not provide as large a lift to brand as the more
prominent global cities do for their universities.
Google Analytics
Additional investigation of name/brand strength was undertaken with Google
Analytics. A summary of the key findings is below.5
This analysis revealed that the click through rate (CTR) for Victoria University was
very low (2.08 percent) among overseas searches (i.e., excluding data from New
Zealand). Looking at this from another perspective, 98 percent of the times overseas
people entered the term Victoria University they did not click through to our website—
presumably because they were looking for websites other than ours.
In contrast, the CTR for University of Wel ington and Wel ington University were
comparatively high at 35.58 percent and 27.32 percent, respectively. Therefore,
worldwide, the names University of Wel ington and Wel ington University are
performing better (i.e., with more specificity for our website) than the name Victoria
University. Performance of the first two names wil further improve if the domain,
brand and site content change to match the new name.
2.3
Change to our Māori name
As mentioned in section 2.0, as consultation began on the possible change of the
University’s legal name suggestions were soon received that we should also change
the University’s Māori name.
The proposed change of Māori name was not suggested for the same reasons as
those underpinning the proposal to change the University’s legal name, that is, the
rationale for the proposed change to our Māori name was not to improve the clarity,
distinctiveness and recal of the University’s name in international markets. Nor was
the rationale to improve the name’s alignment with Wellington, given that the current
Māori name, Te Whare Wānanga o Te Ūpoko o te Ika a Māui, is a translation of
University of Wel ington. Instead, various other reasons were suggested, including a
desire to say something more meaningful in te reo Māori than simply translating the
legal name—for instance, saying something about the University’s values or its
essence. One suggestion was to retain the word Victoria as Wikitōria, and another to
ensure whatever was chosen was more ‘accessible’ to non te reo Māori speakers
than our current Māori name.
5 The search analytics function of Google compares the click through rate (CTR) to our current
website www.victoria.ac.nz when the various name variants of Victoria University of Wel ington
were used as search terms in Google. The CTR is the ratio of the number of clicks that a
website received compared with the number of impressions of a website that result from
searching a particular search term (expressed as a percentage). A high CTR indicates that
people entering a particular search term frequently click on the impression of a particular
website. In other words, if a particular name variant of Victoria University of Wel ington has a
high CTR it suggests people who entered that name as a search term were looking for our
website.
14
Toihuarewa (the forum of Māori academic interests at Victoria University of
Wel ington) met on 24 April 2018 and discussed the proposed simplification of the
University’s legal name and a potential change to the University’s Māori name.
Toihuarewa was supportive of a change of the University’s legal name to University of
Wel ington and acknowledged that the current Māori name translates to University of
Wel ington. However, Toihuarewa also observed that this process provided an
opportunity to review the Māori name. The Deputy Vice-Chancel or (Māori)
recommended the Māori name Te Herenga Waka, and this was received favourably
by Toihuarewa to be put forward for consideration. The rationale for Te Herenga
Waka is to provide a more relevant name that captures the Māori identity of the wider
University community. The wharenui, Te Tumu Herenga Waka (the mooring post of
canoes), provides a non-iwi, non-denominational name that offers a unique analogy to
draw communities together and anchor them at the heart of the University.
Fol owing the meeting, letters were sent to the University’s Taihonoa partners. Thirty-
six letters were sent and sixteen responses received, al supportive of the proposed
new name. Example quotes from these letters include:
• Thank you for the letter. I wil formal y write to send our congratulations on this
decision.
• That’s great! I ful y support the kaupapa of the name change and particularly
Te Herenga Waka as the Māori name for the university. Wetiweti [Awesome].
• Pai ana e te tuakana. Kei te tautoko mātou ki ēnā whakaaro [This is great. We
support this proposal].
The change of the Māori name to Te Herenga Waka was discussed with, and then
endorsed by, Te Aka Matua. This name was also included as one of the proposed
name changes discussed with staff, students, alumni, stakeholders and the public.
2.4
External review by Assignment
Assignment, a Wel ington-based branding and communications company, undertook a
review of the name simplification project. Assignment concluded that name
simplification is the right approach for the University when considering its positioning
as New Zealand’s global y ranked capital city university, its vision as a global–civic
university and the desire for the University to make its brand more distinctive and
salient. It also found that the project had progressed wel and the University’s
approach was satisfactory.
Assignment went on to make some specific recommendations regarding the
communication of the goals of the name simplification project and to provide guidance
on the implementation of the project, including sub-brands (see Appendix C).
2.5
Overview of engagement on the potential name change
The University has taken a proactive approach to communication and engagement on
the potential name change internal y and external y, and within New Zealand and
international y. Engagement with wider audiences (beyond Council and Senior
Leadership Team) started in confidence in February 2018 by way of a letter to the
Minister of Education (as previously mentioned in section 2.0) and a forum with heads
of schools and central service unit directors. These discussions were then fol owed
with expansion to key stakeholders in April, before public forums for staff, students
15
and members of the public starting 1 May 2018. Media coverage started 1 May 2018
with the release of the news of potential change fol owing staff forums. Feedback has
been actively sought from these interactions (in person, via phone, email or social
media).The fol owing provides a brief overview of the audiences that have been
engaged to discuss the name simplification proposal:
•
Senior Leadership Team and other senior staff: SLT endorsed the decision
to progress with the name simplification project. Heads of schools and central
service unit directors were engaged early by way of a forum with the Vice-
Chancel or, as were Deans and Associate Deans of al faculties. Senior staff
members have also fed back comments to the Vice-Chancel or to consider and
have identified opportunities for the Vice-Chancel or to further engage key groups.
•
Other tertiary providers: The vice-chancel ors of the other seven universities
were contacted by email for their views. A meeting was held with the chief
executive of Whitireia/Weltec to discuss the proposal and other matters of shared
interest.
•
Staff: Open discussions were held with staff in forums on al campuses and
feedback was sought at the forums and by fol ow-up emails. A video of the Vice-
Chancel or’s presentation was placed on the staff intranet for staff unable to attend
any of the forums. Other discussions were initiated to enable staff to identify ways
to help enhance the University’s reputation on the international stage and to
provide feedback on the potential change.
•
Māori: Discussions
with Te Aka Matua (incorporating Ngāi Tauira
representatives), Toihuarewa and other Māori groups were held early (see section
2.3) to ensure the perspective of Māori was clearly understood at the start of the
process.
•
Former chancellors/vice-chancellors: As prior leaders of the University, with
a close knowledge of the University and its history, these individuals were
engaged early to hear their views and their advice. They were also provided with
context and the ability to provide further feedback.
•
High-influence stakeholders: A forum and individual discussions were held
with influential stakeholders to ensure the context for the proposal and the views
of stakeholders were understood. This group included external organisations,
funders and partner institutions.
•
Alumni: Both domestic and international alumni were engaged. Those for
whom we held email addresses and were able to be contacted were consistently
informed via a regular e-newsletter. Others were engaged through media
coverage, social media and word of mouth. They have been provided access to
context and been given the ability to offer feedback. Personal discussions were
held by the Vice-Chancellor with a number of alumni who took a particular interest
in the proposal.
•
Donors: Direct engagement has occurred with major individual donors.
16
•
Students: We have engaged with the leadership of the University’s principal
student associations and with key student leaders, and held wider discussions
with students via a forum in the Hub.
•
Media: The Vice-Chancel or has personal y been the spokesperson for the
potential change in communication with the media. Questions have been
responded to quickly and the Vice-Chancellor has been available for interviews
whenever possible.
•
Public: Engagement with members of the public has been conducted through
a public forum, press releases, email, social media and in face-to-face
discussions.
Overal , eight forums were held for staff, students, stakeholders and the public. Five
staff forums were held from 1-4 May 2018, a student forum was held on 4 May 2018,
the public forum was held on 23 May 2018, and the stakeholder forum held on 30 May
2018. The potential name change was also discussed at wel -attended alumni events
in London, Edinburgh, New York and San Francisco.
Based on the findings discussed in section 2.2 and 2.3, the preferred legal name of
University of Wel ington was chosen as the focal point for engagement with students,
staff, alumni, other stakeholders and the public. Te Herenga Waka was chosen as the
preferred Māori name. To help people understand the rationale behind the proposal,
the University has provided written information and videos on its website—for
students, alumni, stakeholders and the public—and on its staff intranet. The matter
has also been canvassed on the University’s social media channels and in other
media as a result of media releases issued by the University and interviews with the
Vice-Chancellor.
Feedback was invited from al groups and the wider public with replies to three email
addresses6 and also through posts on the University’s Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
social media sites. The email addresses were provided at al forums, in press
releases, displayed on the front page of the University website, and posted on
electronic message boards around the University. The initial date for feedback closing
was 8 June 2018, with reminders provided prior to that date as wel as indications that
late feedback would stil be considered. Email feedback received up til 5pm on
Thursday 26 July was considered.
2.6
Feedback from tertiary providers
Written feedback was received from Massey University, the University of Auckland,
the University of Canterbury and Whitireia/Weltec. No objections were raised by these
institutions, with the prevalent sentiment being that this matter is the ‘business’ of
Victoria University of Wel ington. Similar sentiments were expressed at a fol ow-up
discussion at a New Zealand Vice-Chancel ors’ Committee meeting, with no
objections raised.
2.7
Feedback from alumni, staff, students, stakeholders and the public
Digital Boardbooks file
6 [email address], vice-chancel [email address], and [email address]
17
A ful record of al email feedback received and links to public social media accounts
containing comments was made available for review by Council members. This
feedback was considered by Council members prior to Council making its draft
decision. The Council wishes to thank al those who provided feedback.
Attendance levels at forums and the volume of written feedback
The five staff forums were wel attended, with total attendance in excess of 550 staff.
The student forum attracted a high level of interest from a smal group of engaged
members of the student population. Only six people attended the public forum at
Rutherford House, in spite of widespread promotion of the event. Only two people
attended the stakeholder forum, to which almost 200 people were personal y invited.
Fol owing the forums, releases and discussions, 425 email submissions were received
by 26 July 2018 and 486 comments were made on the University’s social media
pages, 269 of these comments containing feedback on the name simplification
proposal.7
It should be noted that overal written feedback numbers were a very smal portion of
stakeholder groups, given that about 45,000 alumni were contacted via e-newsletter
and communication material was targeted to more than 21,000 current students and
more than 3,500 staff.
Face-to-face feedback from staff, student and public forums
• Feedback at staff forums was largely positive, with a majority of the staff who
spoke doing so in support of the proposal. Some staff shared experiences of
name confusion with other institutions. A number raised the matter of
protecting the heritage and legacy of the word Victoria if the proposal went
ahead. There were also questions about costs and timing.
• Attendance at the student forum was modest, but there was a high level of
engagement from those who heard the Vice-Chancel or’s presentation. The
questions asked were consistent with the matters raised in email feedback
from students (see below).
• Meetings with international alumni groups in San Francisco, New York,
Edinburgh and London demonstrated nostalgia for the name Victoria, but a
pragmatic concurrence with the rationale for the change.
• Feedback was provided by 26 alumni attending Wel ington focus groups
during the period of consultation. These focus-group discussions were part of
the inaugural alumni focus-group sessions conducted by the University’s
Engagement and Alumni team. Overal feedback from this group on the
potential name change was mixed and the feedback themes were similar to
those resulting from communication with alumni through other channels (see
below).
• Several members of the smal group at the public forum were neutral and
attended to receive more information, while several others arrived opposed to
the proposal but told media at the end that they were now more sympathetic.
7 Many comments on social media contain tagging of other people or replies to prior comments that are
not directly related to the name change proposal.
18
• A common theme reported by individuals attending al of these forums was
that a significant number of people who arrived with questions or a negative
view on the proposal had their concerns partial y or ful y addressed or left with
a positive view.
Outside these forums, the Vice-Chancel or and other members of the Senior
Leadership Team also undertook a large programme of personal engagement with
staff, students, alumni and other stakeholders. The programme included meetings and
correspondence with a wide variety of individuals and groups.
These discussions revealed the proposal is supported within
• staff groups (including the Senior Leadership Team, deans and directors,
heads of schools, retired senior leaders, and various schools);
• members of the Tertiary Education Union;
• Toihuarewa, Te Aka Matua and other Māori consulted;
• the executive groups of the Victoria University of Wel ington Students’
Association and the Postgraduate Students’ Association;
• the co-presidents of the Māori Students Association (Ngāi Tauira);
• the trustees of the Victoria University of Wel ington Foundation;
• civic leaders such as past and present mayors of Wellington City;
• the leadership of WREDA and the Chamber of Commerce.
However, discussions with alumni were more mixed (see below).
Email submissions
By far the largest group of email submitters was alumni, with 272 email submissions
from alumni, 63 from students, 43 from staff, 38 from stakeholders and nine from
other members of the public. (It should be noted that some people could be classified
into more than one group, but were assigned based on how they identified themselves
in their comments.) Overal , the feedback was mixed, with aggregate numbers
showing more responses against the proposal than for it. However, these proportions
vary by group of submitter, with alumni and student submissions more against and
staff and stakeholders more for the change.
Overall
Total
Number of
Supportive
Against
Neutral 8
summary
number respondents
45,0009
186
Alumni
272
70 (26%)
(68%)
16 (6%)
Staff
3,500
43
26 (60%)
12 (28%)
5 (12% )
Student
21,000
63
16 (25%)
43 (68%)
4 (6%)
Stakeholders
-
38
25 (66%)
6 (16%)
7 (18%)
Public
-
9
1 (11%)
7 (78%)
1 (11%)
254
Total
425
138 (32%)
(60%)
33 (8%)
8 Neutral comments include comments that provide no preference or provide comments on related areas,
for example, alternate suggestions for part or all of the name and wider branding without commentary or
preference shown for the current name or suggested change.
9 This is the total number of alumni contacted via e-newsletter.
19
Of note are the email responses of alumni and stakeholders who worked as
academics at other universities, given their specialised knowledge of international
academic markets and the greater likelihood these individuals would participate in
academic reputation surveys. Twenty-one submissions were received from this group,
16 of these contained within the alumni and five within the stakeholders groups above.
Fourteen of these 21 submissions (67 percent) were in support of the change and
seven (33 percent) against.
As mentioned above, it should be noted that overal written feedback numbers were a
very smal portion of stakeholder groups. Feedback was received via email from 1–
3% of staff, students and contactable alumni.
Social media comments
Social media responses were predominantly negative. The table below shows the
overal summary of social media comments by site. Over 400 comments were made
on the University’s social media pages. However, the table below shows an overal
summary of the comments that related specifical y to the proposal.
Total
Social media site
feedback
Supportive
Against
Neutral
comments
Facebook—University
page
83
15 (18%)
55 (66%)
13 (16%)
Facebook—Alumni
page
56
3 (5%)
42 (75%)
11 (20%)
LinkedIn
64
6 (9%)
42 (66%)
16 (25%)
Twitter
66
11 (17%)
30 (45%)
25 (38%)
Total
269
35 (13%)
169 (63%)
65 (24%)
Key themes from email submissions and social media comments
The email submissions and social media comments provided a wide range of views
and insights. These have been reviewed and the key themes extracted. These
themes appear in more than 3 percent of email submissions, and have come from
both personal reflections expressed in emails and, in some cases, more detailed
analysis and research. These key themes fal into 14 areas, five supportive of the
change, seven against the change, and two neutral.
Supportive themes:
• The name University of Wel ington removes ambiguity around where we are
located.
• Support for use of the proposed Māori name and how this was captured in a
concept logo.
• The use of Victoria in the name results in misidentification and/or
misappropriation of work.
• Victoria is overused in the world and not distinctive.
20
• University of Wel ington is modern and progressive.
Themes against the proposal:
• The name Victoria holds value due to its prestigious history and how it
distinguishes the University from others.
• Alumni, staff and students are invested in the Victoria name and have a strong
connection to the current name.
• Concerns with Wel ington as an identifier and that the name University of
Wel ington is very generic.
• Concern with the costs of a name change, with funds better used elsewhere.
• Victoria University of Wel ington is wel regarded overseas; this change wil
have a negative impact on recognition and association with this strong
position.
• Victoria is wel regarded domestical y.
• Renaming wil have little impact, and little or no evidence of improvement has
been provided to support making a change.
Other key (neutral) themes
• Multiple other name suggestions were made, including opposition to a Māori
name and the suggestion that we should have only a Māori name.
• Concern with the process for engagement and consultation on the name
change.
The occurrence of themes in email submissions by stakeholder groups is as fol ows:
21
3.0
Consideration of the feedback
Consideration of feedback from stakeholders has been an integral part of the process.
This has included discussion with the submitters on topics raised, reflection on points
raised as they were made, and further detailed consideration of the feedback by
Council prior to making the draft decision.
The table below shows how the key themes10 from feedback have been considered
and, where considered appropriate, how the feedback themes have influenced the
draft decision or the potential implementation process:
Key theme from
Influence on the draft decision
submissions or comments
Supportive themes
University of Wel ington
Agreed—reflected in the draft decision.
removes ambiguity around
where we are located
10 Key themes are defined as those that occurred in more than 3 percent of email submissions.
22
Key theme from
Influence on the draft decision
submissions or comments
Support for use of the
Agreed—a decision to widen the project to consider a new
proposed Māori name and
Māori name was made; reflected in the draft decision.
how this was captured in the
logo
The use of Victoria in the
Agreed—reflected in the draft decision.
name results in
misidentification and/or
misappropriation of work
Victoria is overused in the
Agreed—reflected in the draft decision.
world and not distinctive
University of Wel ington is
Agreed—reflected in the draft decision.
modern and progressive
Against themes
The name Victoria holds
Partial y agreed—if the draft decision is confirmed and the
value due to its prestigious
Minister accepts a recommendation, an initiative wil be
history and how it
established, led by a senior academic, to ensure that the
distinguishes the University
legacy of the name is respected and honoured in a variety of
from others
ways; this may include use of the name Victoria in our
awards, annual lectures, symposia, rooms, buildings and
operational units.
However, the results of our research and analysis do not
support the view that the word Victoria distinguishes the
University from others.
Alumni, staff and students
Agreed—as discussed above, if the draft decision is
are invested in the Victoria
confirmed and the Minister accepts a recommendation, the
name, have a strong
name Victoria wil continue to be used in a variety of ways. In
connection to the current
addition, the existing reputation of the University wil continue
name, and some are
to be enhanced through a broad-based programme of work to
concerned about potential
build international reputation, ensuring the prestige of the
impact on degree certificates University and its qualifications are enhanced. Alumni who
graduated prior to 1 Feb 2019 wil be able to request
graduation certificates and transcripts be replaced under the
new name.
Concerns with Wel ington as
Disagreed—the enhanced focus on the word Wel ington in
an identifier and that the
the proposed simplified name is consistent with our civic
name University of
university ethos and our positioning as New Zealand’s
Wel ington is very generic
global y ranked capital city university, outlined in our strategic
plan. It al ows us to leverage the considerable investment
made by Wel ington City Council in marketing Wel ington
internationally. There are no other universities named this
way in the world and no other cities named Wel ington with
universities.
Concern with the costs of a
Disagreed—the proposal is an investment in the University’s
name change, with funds
future as a world-renowned university. If the draft decision is
better used elsewhere
confirmed and the Minister accepts a recommendation, if the
draft decision is confirmed and the Minister accepts a
23
Key theme from
Influence on the draft decision
submissions or comments
recommendation, costs wil be managed prudently with the
level of expenditure to be kept within assessed benefits. For
instance, when appropriate we would rol out changes as part
of business as usual, over time. The University has capped
external payments to design agencies at a modest sum and
may chose to undertake the majority of the work required by
re-prioritising the priorities of our marketing and facilities staff.
Except for high profile signs, we may also decide to change
our signs only as they age—using our already al ocated
maintenance budget. The main costs would be in altering the
website. We aren’t expecting major design costs because the
proposal is a name simplification rather than a change per
se., i.e., we are proposing to retire the word Victoria and
incorporate Te Herenga Waka, not invent a new name,
change colours, etc. Importantly, the financial considerations
are not just about cost, but more about estimated additional
expenditure versus estimated additional revenue. The latter is
very considerable (measured in tens of mil ions of dol ars) if
we are able to lift our international reputation in association
with the name change. We also expect the cost-effectiveness
of the University’s marketing to increase when the marketing
messages are not undermined by the multiplicity of name
variants and by way of leveraging Wel ington’s investment in
the promotion of the city.
Victoria University of
Partial y agreed—but the research conducted, and the advice
Wel ington is wel regarded
we have received, show that there is considerable scope to
overseas and this change wil enhance the University’s reputation offshore, particularly
have a negative impact on
among individuals who have not had any direct interactions
recognition and association
with the University. There is also a significant opportunity to
with this strong position
better differentiate from other similarly named universities that
have better name recognition in large parts of the world. Our
research and advice also suggest that simplifying and
clarifying our name wil assist with this process of building
positively on the University’s international reputation.
Victoria is wel regarded
Agreed—the University is wel known in New Zealand. The
domestical y
proposed name simplification is very unlikely to have a
negative impact domestical y on our strong local brand and
may wel be positive, particularly given the proposed inclusion
of Te Herenga Waka. Additional y, if the draft decision is
confirmed and the Minister accepts a recommendation, any
changes beyond the name and logo would be kept to a
minimum and we would ensure ongoing consistency in our
branding and in our domestic recruitment campaign
materials.
Renaming will have little
Disagreed—the advice we have been given from professional
impact, and little or no
agencies strongly suggests that simplifying and clarifying the
evidence of improvement has name of the University wil have a positive impact on the
been provided to support
University’s international prominence. This advice is
making a change
supported by the market research and data analytics we have
24
Key theme from
Influence on the draft decision
submissions or comments
undertaken and the advice we have received from other
institutions that have experienced such changes.
Neutral themes
Multiple other name
Disagreed—a number of variants of the legal name were
suggestions were made,
market tested international y, considered from a legal
including occasional
perspective, and then debated in numerous fora and
opposition to a Māori name,
conversations. University of Wel ington, New Zealand has
and the opposite suggestion
performed most consistently wel throughout. The opposition
that we should have only a
to a Māori name was infrequent and does not reflect our
Māori name
culture, values, or our obligations under the Treaty. The
choice of only a Māori name was considered not in keeping
with the findings of the name simplification project that the
University needed to have an easily understood name that
stands on its own in the many countries from which we draw
students and staff. It would be very costly for the University to
‘explain’ Te Herenga Waka as our sole brand offshore and
there would be a very high risk of a loss of brand prominence,
a drop in the rankings, and a loss of international students
with the attendent financial consequences. Te Herenga Waka
used alone was also considered to have less fit to the
University’s legacy name and capital city positioning than a
name that includes Wel ington. Lastly, to provide versatility,
the design solution for any revised logo will be required to
demonstrate flexibility in the way the Māori and legal names
are used and arranged.
Concern with the process for
Disagreed—the process used to consider whether a name
engagement and consultation simplification is in the best interests of the University has
on the name change
been very inclusive, with multiple engagement points with
stakeholders.
Many other minor themes emerged through feedback from stakeholders. These minor
themes did not occur in more than 3 percent of submissions. Some of these minor
themes are:
•
Concern that international students do not have trouble recognising
Victoria currently, so the change is not warranted: Disagreed—our
research and analysis show the name is causing confusion. This confusion
results in a misattribution of our achievements, which in turn affects our
research impact, prominence, rankings and other reputation measures. The
lower than deserved prestige results in fewer international enrolments.
•
Concern by international students that the current name is too difficult to
translate: Agreed—fol ow-up advice confirmed these observations by our
students that the ful name of the University can be difficult to translate; for
example, translation in China requires an unwieldy nine characters and
therefore the name is often shortened (see section 2.1); by way of another
example, a PhD candidate with the relevant specialist expertise advised that
the Persian translation of the name is also very complex from a syntactic point
of view.
25
•
We should use ‘The’ before University of Wellington to truly reflect our
position as New Zealand’s globally ranked capital city university:
Disagreed—while our research suggests that using an initially capitalised ‘The’
might confer a minor advantage, it also creates pragmatic difficulties in
maintaining the consistency of our name in communications, marketing
materials, media articles and publication attributions; it can also signal
pomposity in some markets.
•
Concern with others who use Victoria in their name, for example, clubs
and societies: Agreed—we are keeping these important stakeholders wel
informed of progress on this matter and wil continue to do so; adoption by
clubs and societies of any new names wil be voluntary; Appendix C contains
further detail of plans for continued engagement with these parties as part of
any implementation.
•
University of Wellington aligns us with the city of Wellington and allows
us to leverage off its reputation and investment in international profile:
Agreed—reflected in the draft decision.
4.0
Financial considerations
Forecast revenue
The incremental revenues resulting from the proposed name simplification are
indirect. They derive from the benefits of enhanced name clarity, distinctiveness,
memorability, and international prestige. Furthermore, as previously explained, the
proposed name simplification is one element of a wider programme focused on
enhancing the international reputation of the University. As such, isolating its
benefits from the other projects within the programme is difficult. Nevertheless, the
scale of the financial benefits potential y realisable by the University if we are able
to lift our international reputation in association with the name change are very
significant.
Most of the incremental revenue resulting from improved institutional prestige
would result from improved international student recruitment. The scale of this
potential upside is measured in tens of mil ions of dol ars. For instance, if the
University were able to raise its proportion of international students towards the
percentage of international students currently enrol ed by one of our peer
universities, or to the average of international students enrol ed by the Australian
Group of Eight universities, we would raise our gross revenues by up to $12.5
mil ion and $59 mil ion per annum, respectively. Enhanced international prestige
also attracts additional revenue through enhanced research grants and
philanthropy.
Costs incurred to date
To date, the proposed name simplification has incurred costs of $236,151. These
costs have been for research work with international students and agents, legal
advice on the change and review of the change process, and work to review the
proposed name and branding.
Estimated future costs of the name simplification
If the decision is made to change the University’s name, the estimated additional
external costs involved (i.e., additional to those typical y spent on such matters in
26
prior years) are outlined in the table below11. Note these costs wil fal across two
years (2018 and 2019).
External costs ($000)
2018
2019
TOTAL
Design and marketing
10
10
20
agencies
Legal and domestic
52
-
52
trademarks
IT changes
108
-
108
Certificates and transcripts
15
150
165
Other (incl. contingency)
45
56
101
Total
230
216
446
Note: Certificates and transcripts costs assume 4,500 free new certificates provided to
alumni.
Delivery of the name change and associated benefits wil also be supported by re-
prioritisation of work within the Communications, Marketing and Engagement team,
along with a modest increase in the number of staff. Budget permitting, this cost
comprises $280,000 for six fixed-term web staff for a period of six months.
As mentioned earlier, if the draft decision is confirmed and the Minister accepts a
recommendation, costs wil be managed prudently with the level of expenditure to
be kept within assessed benefits. For instance, when appropriate we would rol out
changes as part of business as usual, over time. For example, the University may
choose to undertake the majority of the work required by re-prioritising the priorities
of our marketing and facilities staff. Except for high profile signs, we may also
decide to change our signs only as they age—using our already al ocated
maintenance budget.
5.0
Implementation plan for a potential name change
If the draft decision is confirmed and a recommendation accepted by the Minister, the
University project management framework wil be used to manage the governance
and implementation of the proposed name simplification. A brief overview of the key
dates and the principal implementation workstreams is provided in Appendix C.
The principal works streams covered include:
• graduation certificates and transcripts
• common seal
• university signage
• clubs and societies
• logo and design work
• protecting the Victoria legacy
• communications and engagement approach
• affiliations in research publications and other outputs
11 Final capex and opex split is yet to be determined
27
• benefits realisation.
6.0
Key risks and mitigation plans in place
The fol owing table identifies key risks to the success of the proposal and how these
risks are intended to be mitigated.
Description of risk
Inherent
Mitigation strategy (if the draft
Residual
risk level
decision is confirmed and the
risk level
Minister accepts a
recommendation)
1. Stakeholder support
Very high
Comprehensive engagement with
Medium
If stakeholders do not
staff, students, alumni and
support the rationale
community.
and/or approach for the
Continued post-decision
simplification of the
engagement with al sub groups
University’s name, they
impacted by the name
may respond negatively,
simplification.
requiring additional
Continue to highlight the research
consultation,
and rationale that supports the
communication and
benefits of the proposed name
engagement effort with
simplification and the implicit
potential to impact the
alignment with Wellington.
University’s reputation
and philanthropic
Engage stakeholder groups as
support
part of the Heritage workstream to
preserve the Victoria name.
2. Negative publicity
High
Consultation and open
Medium
If there is negative
discussions with alumni, staff,
publicity around the
students, stakeholders and
project, then this wil
members of the public.
require additional
Continued reinforcement of
communication effort
benefits of the proposed change.
and may create a
perception of project
failure and damage to
the University's
reputation.
3. Legal challenge
Medium
Strong legal team involvement in
Low
If the process to simplify
the planning of the process and in
the name is chal enged,
review of consideration of the
then this chal enge wil
feedback.
require a response,
resulting in delays or
preventing the name
simplification from being
implemented and
28
Description of risk
Inherent
Mitigation strategy (if the draft
Residual
risk level
decision is confirmed and the
risk level
Minister accepts a
recommendation)
potential reputation
damage
4. Ministerial approval
Medium
Any recommendation to the
Medium
If the Minister does not
Minister would address the
approve the name
recently published criteria that the
simplification, then the
Minister wil have regard to in his
development and
decision.
implementation of the
outputs and changes
may be delayed,
resulting in a delay or
cancel ation of name
simplification go-live with
potential loss of value of
work completed to that
point
5. Resource capacity
High
In-depth planning and analysis of
Medium
If the University
workstreams.
resources do not have
Overal coordination from a central
the available capacity to
programme level to ensure
deliver the scope
dependencies are wel managed
required for the project in
and workstreams are wel aware
addition to existing BAU
of other activities happening.
and projects, then the
Early engagement with impacted
quality of the outputs and
parties.
changes implemented
wil be compromised
Sufficient implementation time
and/or completed late,
provided for the project.
and/or other priorities at
Staged rol out of non-critical
the University wil be
items—e.g., way-finding signage.
deprioritised
Appropriate balance between
investment in the project and re-
prioritisation of current work.
6. Funding/costs
High
Implementation would be
Low
If the funding required for
governed by the already
name simplification is
established international
greater than
budgeted,
reputation programme
then additional funding
governance committee, which
may be required or
would meet monthly to monitor
project progress.
29
Description of risk
Inherent
Mitigation strategy (if the draft
Residual
risk level
decision is confirmed and the
risk level
Minister accepts a
recommendation)
delivery may be
In-depth planning and analysis of
impacted
workstreams.
Overal coordination from a central
project level to monitor project
delivery, cost and quality.
7. Inconsistent
High
New brand architecture and
Medium
affiliation
affiliation standards would be
If staff and researchers
developed as part of the name
adopt new or different
change.
terms to affiliate
Implementation of standards
research, due to either
would be conducted via Library
dislike for the change or
staff working closely with
unclear new approach,
academic and research office
then the University will
staff.
not receive the
Feedback from SLT and wider
appropriate recognition
senior leaders would be
for research, resulting in
continual y sought prior to the
some of the outcomes
change being implemented (e.g.,
and benefits of the
from SLT, deans and directors,
project not being realised
and heads of school forums).
Library team would engage with
al academics on the change in
affiliation standards.
8. Protecting the brand High
Trademark protection has been
Low
Protecting trademarks is
put in place.
important to prevent
other institutions
leveraging our good
reputation.
9. Impact on alumni
Medium
Letter would be sent to
Low
credentials
contactable alumni to support
If the name change
existing qualification.
causes uncertainty for
Those who graduated prior to 1
employers when
Feb 2019 would be able to
considering potential
request graduation certificates be
applicants from
replaced under the new name at
University of Wel ington
no cost.
this may impact
An implementation group would
negatively on alumni and
be established to ensure that
the University.
students and alumni would be
30
Description of risk
Inherent
Mitigation strategy (if the draft
Residual
risk level
decision is confirmed and the
risk level
Minister accepts a
recommendation)
Students transferring to
able to request, access and be
other
provided a smooth and integrated
educational Institutions
experience.
wil require consistent
Web search engines would be
documentation to avoid
optimised to ensure search terms
any potential confusion
for both the current and proposed
and that protects the
name result in direct enquiries to
University’s reputation.
our website.
10. Confusion (clarity
High
Early engagement with ranking
Low
of brand)
agencies on the proposed
If the project creates
change.
confusion about whether
Processes would be established
the University is the
within the Library, databases and
same institution as
rankings agencies to manage
previously, then
research affiliation changes.
international rankings
Plans would be put in place to
and student numbers
complement the name change
may be negatively
with additional measures to help
impacted
enhance international reputation,
e.g., THE advertising.
Further risks have been captured as part of detailed implementation planning and
form part of the ful project risk register that wil continue to be assessed and updated
throughout the project. The above, and other risks outside the above set, will be
managed to a tolerable level and the risk register provided for review and discussion
at the monthly governance meetings for the international reputation work.
7.0
Conclusion
Since 15 February 2017, the University has been examining whether the simplification
of the University’s legal name to University of Wel ington would better align with the
University’s vision, mission and strategic positioning, and help differentiate the
University international y.
A key insight from the process included the implicit alignment of the proposed new
name with the University’s global–civic vision and its positioning as New Zealand’s
global y ranked capital city university. An external brand and communication agency
confirmed the importance of this alignment and noted the proposed new name
represented a proof-point of the University’s commitment to Wel ington—a
commitment not lost on city leaders such as current and past mayors, the chief
executives of local councils, Chamber of Commerce and the Wel ington Regional
Economic Development Agency—all of whom were in strong support of the proposal.
The adoption of a simplified name that centres on Wel ington, rather than on Victoria,
was found to emphasise the institution’s pre-eminence in Wellington.
The process also revealed that the University’s international prominence and name
recognition is not in keeping with its high academic quality. Evidence was uncovered
31
that showed the attribution of the University’s achievements to other universities
sharing the word Victoria is a regular occurrence undermining the University’s
international prominence and rankings.
Another insight was that the name Victoria University performed very poorly for the
University in offshore markets. As few as 2 percent of individuals searching Victoria
University offshore clicked through to our website, indicating that by far the majority
are searching for the websites of other institutions. When the worldwide search
volume for Victoria University was broken down by cities, it confirmed that the term
Victoria University has different meanings in New Zealand, Australia, North America,
Africa and Asia.
Also of concern was the observation that our staff regularly use up to eight variants of
the University’s name, adding to the confusion; similarly, people undertaking web
searches for the University use up to 15 related name variants of the current name,
testament to the uncertainty about our true name.
Prospective international students were found to have no demonstrable preference for
the University’s current name—preferring instead the name University of Wel ington,
New Zealand. International students also pointed to the translation difficulties
experienced with the current name in important markets such as China.
The marketing professionals consulted local y and at the most influential university
ranking agencies (QS and THE in London) al concur that the proposed name
simplification wil be beneficial for the University’s reputation and brand. These
professionals—as wel as a number of academic marketing experts who provided
feedback—saw name ‘recognition’, ‘differentiation’ and ‘memorability’ as essential if a
university aspires to global brand prominence. They argued that without such
differentiation large sums of money have to be spent on regular marketing campaigns
to keep reminding people of the existence of a university—an approach they felt was
unsuited to a public university.
The extensive brand research conducted by the University of Manchester in dropping
Victoria from its name, and the direct feedback from its staff, provide support for the
benefits of a simplified name.
Feedback from staff, student executive groups, other universities, key stakeholders
and alumni working in universities offshore has been general y positive. However,
written feedback from other alumni, students and members of the public has been
predominantly negative. Negative views were particularly frequent among those with
little knowledge of the rationale for the decision, and views often softened or reversed
once the rationale was explained. Continued use of the word Victoria in the life of the
University was endorsed by many. Strong support was expressed for changing the
Māori name of the University to Te Herenga Waka.
The potential financial and non-financial benefits of the investment were found to far
outweigh the estimated costs and the key risks that were identified were considered to
be manageable.
As such, at the conclusion of the process, the Council decided to make the fol owing
draft decision:
1. to make a recommendation to the Minister of Education under section
162(5) of the Education Act 1989 that the legal name of the University be
changed from Victoria University of Wel ington to University of Wel ington;
32
2. subject to the Minister’s approval of a change in name to University of
Wel ington, to change the University’s Māori name from Te Whare
Wānanga o Te Ūpoko O Te Ika a Māui to Te Herenga Waka; and
3. subject to the Minister’s approval of a change in name to University of
Wel ington, to maintain the use and heritage of the word Victoria in a
meaningful way by the ongoing use of the word Victoria in the life of the
University.
33
Appendix A – International research and analysis
Summary of research and analysis on Victoria’s international reputation and
potential name options
Improving the University’s international reputation has been a key part of the
University’s strategic plan, established in 2014. This can be seen through the
University’s global–civic vision and primary and enabling strategies:
•
PS2: Enhance research quality, quantity and impact;
•
PS6: Deepen Victoria University’s intel ectual influence in the Asia–Pacific
region;
•
ES1: Double the community of world-class scholars choosing Victoria;
•
ES2: Attain the scale, quality and academic profile of leading public
universities.
The focus on international reputation comes from market, competitor and strategic
analysis showing our international prominence and name recognition is not in line with
our high academic quality. This can be seen through multiple lenses such as rankings
and reputation surveys. Anecdotal feedback also provides clear examples of where
this is having a negative impact on the University, students, staff and alumni, including
very frequent lack of University name recognition in conversations with academics,
officials, international funding agencies, prospective international students and their
parents.
Research, rankings and reputation data
The University does have real strength in research capabilities as demonstrated by
our number one ranking in research quality for the Performance-Based Research
Fund (PBRF). The University outperforms the New Zealand market by papers
published and citation impact in a number of research areas, including computer
science, mathematics, psychology and chemistry. However, overal , the University
has a low field-weighted citation impact score for New Zealand universities.
The graphics fol owing show the University’s performance against various research
metrics used in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) rankings
methodology, scored out of 100. While the University scores wel for international
col aboration (see section 1) and has moderate scores for research income (2) in
several areas, these measures do not contribute significantly to international
rankings—and other New Zealand universities also score strongly here.
Areas in which the University produces a large volume of publications with moderate-
to-good citation impact (3), such as social sciences, nonetheless score extremely
poorly for international research reputation (4), despite our high number of
international research partners and co-authors. Research reputation is a significant
factor in our international rankings, so this directly affects the University’s profile and
ability to attract students, partnerships, and funding.
34
Similar trends to the above can also be seen in analysis of THE reputation survey
data, but less so in QS surveys: the key difference for QS being the survey
participants are nominated by the University, so they know of its high reputation.
Clarivate (used in ARWU rankings) and THE both use a general survey that is not
nominated by the University, and it is these surveys that show a much lower research
reputation. Here, recognition of our academic excel ence is not prominent for those
who have not directly interacted with the University.
35
The role of name in international reputation
University reputations are derived from external perceptions of high-quality research,
teaching and engagement. These perceptions are based on proxies for quality (for
example, PBRF rankings) and a sense of ‘prominence’. To improve both of these,
there are multiple initiatives and improvements that are being targeted within the
University.
Change of name by itself is not something that would lift academic quality and
prominence for an institution. However, in our case, analysis and anecdotal evidence
does show it is detracting from prominence of the University. Name confusion with
other lower quality universities and confusion around our geographic location have
been cited by university marketing experts, ranking agencies, and through the
experiences of our staff as lowering the impact and awareness of their work.
Furthermore, our work is regularly attributed to others, forgoing valuable media and
promotional opportunities.
Tertiary institutions that use Victoria in their name
Outside this university, there are seven other tertiary education organisations that use
the name Victoria prominently in their branding. These are:
o Victoria University—Melbourne, Australia
o University of Victoria—Victoria, Canada
o Victoria University (in the University of Toronto)—Toronto, Canada
o Victoria University of Bangladesh—Dhaka, Bangladesh
o Victoria University Kampala—Uganda
o Victoria International Col ege—Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
o Victoria School of Management, Neuchatel, Switzerland
Of the above, the most prominent cases of name confusion are with the first two
organisations, Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia and University of Victoria in
Victoria, Canada, both of which are ranked significantly lower than ourselves in the
QS rankings but higher in the Times Higher Rankings.
Note: Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia was historical y named Footscray
Institute of Technology, but changed its name in 1990 after being granted university
status by the Victoria State Parliament and undergoing amalgamations with other
Melbourne tertiary institutions.
36
Colmar Brunton research on international student perceptions
Colmar Brunton was commissioned to help the University better understand the
impact on international students’ perceptions and preferences of a potential change of
name. Two in-depth sets of research were undertaken by Colmar Brunton on behalf of
the University, in November 2017 and February 2018. The first set of research
involved 1,427 international students and in-depth interviews with seven international
agents, and the second piece involved 1,404 international students.
The findings of this work showed that a university’s name plays a role early in the
decision-making process of international students when they are first trying to decide
in which part of the world they wish to study. At this initial phase of their search
(notably when the student ‘catchment’ is the largest), students use the university’s
name not only as a geographic label, but also as a proxy for its reputation.
A second piece of international research specifical y on preferred name showed that
on name alone there was a preference among international students for University of
New Zealand, Wel ington or University of Wel ington, New Zealand. This was
significantly higher (7 percent more high appeal) than Victoria University of
Wel ington. Further analysis showed Chinese, Vietnamese and Indian students had a
preference for University of Wel ington, New Zealand.
37
38
The graphic below is of note as it puts the modest gains in preference achieved by a
name change (in of itself) alongside the much larger gains in preference resulting from
rises in prestige. An alternative interpretation of these data is that a name change
would be of most benefit if it helps the University improve prestige, for example, by
helping lift rankings. Conversely, it would be detrimental if it causes the University to
lose ground in the rankings.
Advice from the QS and THE ranking agencies
In November 2017, the Vice-Chancel or visited QS and THE in London to discuss the
advisability of simplifying the University’s name.
The marketing professionals at both organisations were confident name simplification
was a good idea. They based their conclusions on their experience of similar changes
made by other universities, as wel as on first principles—especial y that name
‘recognition’, ‘differentiation’ and ‘memorability’ were essential if a university aspires to
global brand prominence. They argued that the only way to gain prominence with a
name that wasn’t easily recognised, differentiated and memorable was to keep paying
for marketing campaigns to remind people of the existence of the brand.
They didn’t see this as a cost-effective or appropriate strategy for a modestly
resourced university system such as ours. Both groups advised that the key risks of
re-naming related to the potential for a transient loss of research citations and
reputation votes (i.e., votes for academic excel ence). The THE staff arranged for an
additional consultation with the leader of the staff who manages the data for the THE
39
rankings. Her advice was that the risk of a loss of citations is relatively easily
managed, as the relevant database—in their case Scopus—has wel -honed digital
processes to ensure citations from both the old and new name can be col ected
together.
Similarly, she advised it was a simple matter to ensure that votes for academic
excel ence recorded for both the old and the new name can be similarly col ected
through their reputation survey. She was able to quote a recent successful precedent,
the newly federated Paris Science and Letters.
THE marketing staff subsequently undertook a preliminary desktop analysis and made
the fol owing observations.
• Victoria University of Wel ington’s voter base is significantly more senior than
Victoria University’s voter base, with 54 percent of our votes coming from
those over the age of 46 years versus 27 percent of theirs. THE believed this
provides evidence a ‘rebranding’ is ‘very timely’.
• Victoria University of Wel ington’s votes (see figure below) predominantly
come from Oceania (New Zealand specifical y), compared with similarly
ranked Australian universities that have a much better spread of votes from
around the world.
• On the basis of these observations, THE suggests a rebrand won’t particularly
harm international votes, but it also suggests we need to do more international
outreach to attract more ‘high-value’ votes from key regions such as Europe,
Asia and North America.
• A significant majority of Victoria University of Wel ington Google searches
come from within New Zealand, consistent with THE reputation (vote) data.
• The Google search term for ‘The University of Wel ington’ produces results
exclusive to the current Victoria University of Wel ington website, which they
conclude means the search engine ‘indexation’ is already good and minimal
traffic would be lost if the name changes.
• Claiming a capital city name is likely to be advantageous, but we need to be
aware that Google search term awareness of Wel ington lags behind
Auckland.
40
Figure: Source of THE votes for Victoria University of Wel ington
On 17 July 2018, QS advised that “the proposed new brand for the university
(University of Wel ington) comes across as bold, simple and authoritative and
blissful y unambiguous”.
The University of Manchester experience
In October 2017, the Vice-Chancel or had a discussion with the University of
Manchester about their decision to drop Victoria from their previous name, Victoria
University of Manchester. They had based that conclusion on three years of careful
market research by an external agency into university names and logos. The relevant
conclusions from this research are listed below. These findings provide valuable
insights into the preferred naming of Victoria University of Wel ington.
• Two words (i.e., two nouns) are better than three, as:
o two words markedly reduce potential brand confusion as there are only
two variants possible, whereas three words al ow for six possible
combinations
o the third word often diminishes the university’s status by implying it is
not the main university in its city
• One of the words has to be ‘university’.
o the word ‘university’ has far more student recruitment power than the
word ‘col ege’
• The second word should be your city, provided the city has reasonable
international name recognition and cachet.
o The University of Manchester is one of the original civic universities
and saw the alignment of its name to its city as an endorsement of its
civic role.
41
• Capitalising the word ‘The’ is valuable to emphasise that your university is the
principal university in your city.
• Including the establishment date of older universities adds prestige.
The management team at the University of Manchester believe the decision to
simplify the name of their institution has been successful.
42
Appendix B – Google Trends analysis
Victoria University of Wellington
1. Victoria University of
Wel ington is searched infrequently worldwide compared
with the other New Zealand universities (Figure GT1), consistent with a
comparatively low name/brand prominence.
2. Victoria University of Wel ington is searched worldwide markedly less
frequently than the University of Victoria (in British Columbia) and
approximately as frequently as Victoria University (in Australia) (Figure GT2).
3. In most of the major overseas cities and regions from which we draw our
international students, the University of Victoria (in British Columbia) and
Victoria University (in Australia) are searched more frequently than Victoria
University of Wel ington: evidence of low name/brand prominence in
comparison to our namesakes.
4. In Australia, a common employment destination for our graduates, searches
for Victoria University of Wel ington are less than 10 percent of those for
Victoria University in Melbourne.
5. Users searching Victoria University of Wel ington also searched approximately
15 related name variants of our name, the most popular of which were VUW,
Victoria, Victoria University, Wel ington, Wel ington University, Wel ington
Victoria, University of Wel ington and University of Victoria—echoing the
confusing use of our name by our staff.
6. Victoria University of Wel ington, Victoria University (Australia) and University
of Victoria (British Columbia) al share the related search terms of Victoria,
Victoria University and University of Victoria—indicating a lack of consistent
differentiation between these three universities in the initial search.
Victoria University
1. The regional graphic (Figure GT3) showing the distribution of search volume
between Victoria University (in Australia), University of Victoria (in Canada)
and Victoria University of Wel ington.
2. When the search volume for the term ‘Victoria University is broken down to the
level of cities, it confirms that much of the worldwide search for Victoria
University is not targeted on Victoria University of Wel ington (other than in
New Zealand). For example, Victoria University is a very popular search term
in Calgary, Victoria, and Vancouver in Canada (most likely searching for the
University of Victoria in British Columbia), in Toronto (most likely searching for
Victoria University, Toronto), in Melbourne and Sydney (most likely searching
for Victoria University in Melbourne), in Houston (most likely searching for the
University of Houston–Victoria), in Kampala (most likely searching for Victoria
University Uganda) and in Dhaka (most likely searching for Victoria University
of Bangladesh), as wel as in Lower Hutt and Wel ington (most likely searching
for Victoria University of Wel ington). This analysis concurs with the
observations of our staff that the term Victoria University has different
meanings in different regions of the world.
3. Further support for the view that only a smal proportion of the global search
volume for the term Victoria University relates to Victoria University of
Wel ington is provided by an analysis of the top ‘related queries’. This analysis
43
reveals that the 25 most common related search queries made by users who
had also searched for ‘Victoria University’ included only two terms relating to
our university (Victoria University Wel ington and Victoria University of
Wel ington).
4. However, within New Zealand, Victoria University remains a prevalent search
term for those searching for our university.
University of Wellington
1. Users searching University of Wel ington also searched for a number of related
name variants of our name, the most popular of which were Victoria University,
Victoria University of Wel ington, Victoria Wel ington, Victoria, Victoria
University Wel ington and University of Victoria. A comparison of these related
search terms with those of Victoria University (see above) supports the view
that most people who search for University of Wel ington are looking for our
university, whereas most people who search for Victoria University are not.
2. The term Wel ington attracts about the same number of searches worldwide as
Christchurch and Canberra, about half the searches of Auckland and Adelaide,
about one eighth of the searches of Melbourne and Sydney, and one tenth of
the searches of New Zealand—underlining that leveraging the prominence of
Wel ington city wil be helpful, but may not provide as large a lift to brand as
the more prominent global cities do for their universities unless the term
Wel ington is coupled with the words New Zealand (as also noted in the
Colmar Brunton research).
44
Figure GT1
Legend: Victoria University
of Wel ington search volumes compared to those of
University of Auckland, University of Otago, University of Canterbury and Massey
University; 2004–present; worldwide (report in Google Trends)
Figure GT2
Legend: Victoria University
of Wel ington search volumes compared to those of
Victoria University, Australia and University of Victoria, British Columbia; 2004 –
present; worldwide (report in Google Trends)
45
Figure GT3
Legend: The regional distribution of search volume between University of Victoria,
Victoria University and Victoria University of Wel ington; 2004–present; worldwide
(report in Google Trends)
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Appendix C – Proposed Implementation
If the draft decision is confirmed and the Minister accepts a recommendation, the
University project management framework wil be used to manage the governance
and implementation of the proposed name simplification.
There are a number of work streams that would be coordinated through central project
management. A brief overview of some of these workstreams is provided below.
Graduation certificates and transcripts
An approach would be developed to ensure al current and future graduates and
alumni have the graduation documentation they require should the electronic records
maintained by the University be insufficient for a particular employer or other purpose.
If a decision is made to proceed, al students who graduate after 1 February 2019
would be issued certificates under the new name. Prior to any name change taking
effect, al contactable alumni would receive a formal letter from the University outlining
the name change. This letter would also serve as a formal document that can be used
by graduates alongside existing documentation to verify their status as graduates of
University of Wel ington.
There would be no official need for graduates to replace their qualification certificates.
However, if alumni have a personal preference to do so, they could make a request to
the University. A new certificate would be produced and posted to a New Zealand
address at no charge but those overseas would be required to pay courier fees for
delivery. Courier would be used in those cases to ensure documents are not lost in
transit and delivery can be traced.
Al alumni requesting a replacement certificate may also need to be provided a
replacement transcript for consistency (this would be charged at existing rates). In
order to further reduce any doubt about the authenticity of the documents, explanatory
text regarding the name change would be included on these documents.
Common seal
Fol owing recent amendments to the Education Act 1989, the University is no longer
required to have a common seal. However, it may have one if Council adopts one by
statute.
A new seal design would need to be developed.
University signage
A staged approach would be undertaken to rol out new signage. Prominent signs
such as the top of Rutherford House and student accommodation in the city would be
changed first, with second and third tier signage rol ed out later.
Clubs and societies
There are more than 140 clubs and societies on campus, a number of which have
‘Victoria’ as part of their name. The University has written to al clubs and societies,
advising them of the name simplification proposal and emphasising that whether or
not a club or society decides to change its name in response to any name change by
the University is up to members of that group. The University has no intention of
imposing a name change on clubs or societies, many of which may wish to keep
Victoria in their name to preserve the heritage of the original name. If the draft
decision is confirmed, it would be communicated to clubs and societies, along with
information about likely timeframes for the name change, the offer of advice should
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they need it, and an offer to connect them to the wider, University-wide heritage
project being established.
Logo and design work
Assignment Group is working with the University to review the established University
brand architecture, including faculty, school, institute and centre descriptions, and
names associated with Victoria such as Victoria Business School and Victoria
University Press. Their preliminary view is that a ‘unified yet flexible’ approach wil fit
best that ensures individual units tie to the University’s positioning while fulfil ing their
individual roles.
Based on these principles, two key brand architecture recommendations have been
made to date:
• Al entities should link to the University’s positioning as New Zealand’s global y
ranked capital city university.
• Consistency is the most powerful approach.
The design of possible new flexible logo options wil need to take into account such
things as:
• evolution from the current brand to provide flexibility to account for foreseeable
future needs, such as a transportable device
• the preservation and visual relationships of key elements such as Māori and
legal names, establishment date, and country
• responsiveness of the design for use in digital channels.
Protecting the Victoria legacy
A leading scholar of Victorian literature would lead a stream of work on how we can
honour the heritage of the name Victoria. Planning and implementation of this work
wil be started if the draft decision is finalised. As mentioned above, a variety of ways
have been envisaged to protect the Victoria legacy. This could include use of the
name Victoria in our awards, annual lectures, symposia, rooms, buildings and
operational units. The hal s of residence are an example of a unit that could be re-
named to include the word Victoria.
Communications and engagement approach Overal , the University would take a proactive approach to communication and
engagement internal y and external y, ensuring key audiences, including staff,
students, alumni, donors, stakeholders and media, are provided with relevant and
timely information. We would seek to involve our audiences in the process wherever
practicable and appropriate and enable a dialogue that acknowledges that there are
both practical and emotional aspects of the change.
Communications and engagement would work closely with staff, student leaders, key
stakeholders and appropriate alumni to give them the information they need to
support implementation of the change. This would include providing opportunities to
participate in the programme of work around protecting the heritage of the name
Victoria.
Affiliations in research outputs
A change to the name would require the Library to work with publishers and related
agencies to ensure that our research publications are correctly attributed back to the
University. This includes for research centres, institutions and other sub-brands. The
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Library would work with relevant areas of the University to develop the templates. The
Library would also contact al publishers and related agencies to ensure that the
University’s name on research tools is updated.
Benefits realisation
As discussed in section 1.1 on project objectives, an important benefit expected from
the proposed name simplification is to achieve implicit alignment between the name of
the University and Wel ington city as per the University’s global–civic vision and its
strategic positioning as New Zealand’s global y ranked capital university. This very
tangible commitment to a closer alignment is expected to further enhance the mutual y
beneficial engagement between the University, the city and region of Wel ington, and
the local teaching and research organisations.
To help ensure ‘benefits realisation’ of this closer alignment, we would monitor
proximate measures of progress during implementation.
The proposed name simplification forms part of a wider international reputation
programme at the University. The aim of this programme (which includes the name
simplification project) is to help differentiate the University international y with the goal
of increasing international name recognition and memorability, and enhancing
international prominence.
The programme team and the wider University would be aiming to realise the
downstream benefits of this increased prominence and name recognition by way of
improved rankings, better quality international partnerships, increased international
student numbers and growth of overseas research funding and philanthropy. In
addition, success would result in the ability to attract even more highly competitive
fields of applicants for positions across the University.
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