Leeds Metropolitan University has unveiled its new name and will now be known as Leeds Beckett University.
The Board of Governors has settled on the new name and will now pursue formal permission from the Privy Council to change the university’s name. It is estimated that the rebranding exercise could cost around £250,000.
The academy, which has had its current title since it gained university status and changed its name from Leeds Polytechnic in 1992, is based on the Beckett Park campus in Headingley and also at the Rose Bowl building in the city centre.
The Beckett family formerly owned the land and some of the buildings on what is now the Headingly campus.
The University has over 27,000 students and around 2,800 employees. Its former institution, the Leeds Mechanics Institute, was founded in 1824.
Vice chancellor, Professor Susan Price said that more information about the change of name would be revealed once the details of the formal process involving the Privy Council are known.
She added: “We would like to thank staff, students, alumni, friends and partners of our university for their engagement with the consultation process.”
The name change is being carried out because the institution feels it has “outgrown” the Metropolitan name. The two other names considered were Leeds Ridings University and Leeds Headingley University.
When the institution revealed its intention to change its name, Prof Price said: “The last three years in particular have seen a re-positioning of our university to become a university of choice.
“In short the university we see today is remarkably different from that which existed in 1992. We have outgrown our ‘Metropolitan’ name and are now looking towards the future for our institution, and our students and graduates. It is for these reasons that the board has agreed that the time is right to re-name our university.”
However the University is now facing a backlash over its planned name change with more than 2,500 people joining a protest group on Facebook less than 24 hours after the institute announced the news.
The Facebook group questions why the name change is needed and how much it is going to cost.
Since Monday, the group, Save Leeds Met Uni – Don’t Change the Name had 2,628 signatures on the online petition.
A spokeswoman for the University said: “We appreciate that any change of name will prompt debate and discussion, both of which are tenets of a thriving university community.
“We welcome our students’ feedback on the proposed names for our university and would encourage them to register this via our website.”
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