Let's not see city branded a failure

IS it possible for a city to lose its appeal? For its brand to become tarnished? To fall out of fashion? Those lucky enough to be able to afford to live here know that Edinburgh is the best place to live in Britain (a fact confirmed last year by Phil and Kirsty of Location, Location, Location and who are we to argue with such luminaries?) and it's consistently voted as one of the world's top five cities.

As a result there are many trying to cash in on its cachet. But you only have to look at Daniella Westbrook – or her daughter – dressed head to toe in Burberry to know what havoc the wrong image can wreak on a brand. Is Edinburgh in danger of becoming a victim in a similar way?

The question is relevant as Napier University attempts to change its name to Edinburgh Napier University in the hope that this will attract more students from outside Scotland, boost its numbers and, of course, its coffers.

Not that Napier is the tertiary education equivalent of a "chav" soap star, but it is the third such institution to want to put the word Edinburgh into its official title to cash in on the city's appeal.

Telford College went down this road in the 1990s, in the main to stop confusion with a college of the same name in, unsurprisingly, Telford in Shropshire, as well as to attract more students from abroad, in which it says it's been very successful.

Queen Margaret University has also just added the city's name to its title, and now it's the turn of Napier.

Not that you can blame any of them for wanting to associate themselves with such a wonderful brand – especially as it's their unique selling point given that similar courses are available elsewhere in Britain.

But while Edinburgh University is one of the most popular in the UK alongside Oxford and Cambridge and as a result of overwhelming applications can pick and choose who attends, new universities like Napier do, to some extent, have to rely on the clearing process after the exam results are out and young people are desperate to get a university place anywhere.

So the chiefs at Napier want this to change and believe that by adding Edinburgh to the name, the university will increase its pulling power and make it a first choice for some rather than a panic choice for the majority.

Certainly location plays a huge part in the choice of young people when it comes to deciding where they want to study. With everything Edinburgh has to offer on a social and cultural front to know there is more than one university in the city can only be a good thing, for them, the universities and the city.

But this is only as long as what all new universities are offering is a quality education and providing qualifications which are worth more then the paper the degree scroll is printed on.

It's certainly interesting that Heriot-Watt University doesn't feel the need to go down this path. Why? Because its reputation is sound and of long standing.

A good reputation is vital for both the city and the new universities. Edinburgh has long been regarded as a seat of learning and it's a reputation which the city cannot afford to lose. There are many who still have difficulty believing that Napier is a "real" university – despite the fact that it acquired that status back in the early 1990s.

Reputations are not built overnight and all new universities are facing an incredibly tough market place. With student numbers equalling financial strength, it's understandable they see it as a necessity to use every tool available to get the head count up.

And when your own research shows that a third of 1000 people in Scotland, England and Ireland don't even know that Napier is in Edinburgh, then you have your work cut out.

By adding Edinburgh to its name, Napier's recognition levels will grow and the knock-on effect will be to attract more staff, more students (it wants numbers to grow from 14,000 to 16,500 by 2011), increase research projects, and develop more business links.

So by all means Napier should call itself Edinburgh Napier. It should just remember that by doing so it has an obligation to all the citizens of the city to produce graduates who will go on to enhance the city's reputation as well as that of their alma mater.


Making headway with Greenways

SO more than 20 drivers a day have been hit with fines since the parking attendants started patrolling bus lanes rather than the traffic police. Well I have to say I'm glad.

There is nothing worse than thinking you're going to fly into town on the bus thanks to the Greenways only to end up stuck behind a parked car as the driver doesn't give two hoots for the rules of the road.

However, I do still feel that those who drive in the Greenways for short periods – such as if they're turning a corner and otherwise are just adding to congestion – should be allowed to do so as they're not holding up traffic.

Of course that's because I once ended up in the back of a police van after driving in the Greenways lane at Western Corner to turn left, being in the usual rush to pick up my son from nursery before it shut.

Sadly, such an excuse wasn't allowed to be used in mitigation and I was fined. Can't say I was glad about that. Double standards? Yes.


Where did it all go wrong Eileen?

HATE to harp on about the somewhat unfortunate Richey family from Dalry, but with the prospect of Thomas Richey also being released from an American prison and returned home, thanks to a legal technicality, you have to feel for their mother Eileen.

To have two of your sons leave home to start new lives in the land of the free only to have them both incarcerated for murder, whether or not wrongly in one case and very rightly in the other, must leave you wondering where you went wrong?

And although I'm sure she's delighted at the prospect of a second jailbird son coming home, how long will it be before she wants her flat to herself again?