"Victoria University has confirmed that it will waste almost $1 million on a vanity project to rename the university”, says ACT Leader David Seymour.

The 'name simplification' proposal was dumped last Friday evening after 7pm.

“The case for change is completely superficial and lacks credibility. There’s no good evidence that people overseas confuse Victoria University with other institutions.

“Changing the university’s name to the University of Wellington is unlikely to significantly enhance its reputation, research quality, or outcomes for students.

“In fact, it could have the opposite effect. Victoria is higher-ranked than other universities with similar names, and is older.

“Perhaps that’s why there is such limited support for a name change, with 60 per cent of submissions against the proposal and less than a third supportive.

"This money could have been used to actually improve outcomes for students, but instead Victoria is pressing ahead with a solution in search of a problem”, says Mr Seymour.

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