Letter: Raising UCL's public profile was sound management practice

First, UCL's new corporate identity was the result of extensive research among stakeholders, including academics, alumni and students, all of whom told us UCL needed to do more to raise its public profile and project its vision, values and excellence as a thriving university of international standing.

UCL is a large and diverse organisation, and I have lost count of the times I have heard people express surprise on learning that the Institute of Child Health, Institute of Neurology, Bartlett School of Architecture and Slade School of Fine Art in fact form part of our university. Introducing greater consistency in the way we describe ourselves is consequently, in my view, sound management practice, and I believe the vast majority of UCL staff understand and support the rationale for the action we have taken.

Second, the one-off costs of implementing the new identity were of the order of £180,000. To arrive at the figure of £600,000 quoted by Ms Kellaway, it is necessary to add the ongoing long-term costs of replacing our existing materials (signage, documents, stationery), all of which would need to be replaced eventually regardless of any rebranding.

Purba Choudhury, UCL Deputy Director of Development & Corporate Communications, 'Financial Times', 1 March 2006