The school heretofore established at Montevallo as the Alabama Girls' Industrial School, subsequently known as and called the Alabama Girls' Technical Institute, later known as and called the Alabama Technical Institute and College for Women and still later known as and called Alabama College is and shall remain a body corporate under the corporate name of University of Montevallo, and by that name may sue and contract, acquire and hold real and personal property and have and exercise all the powers of a corporation established to be a state educational institution of higher learning and shall succeed to all the rights, privileges, emoluments, benefits, interests and titles heretofore at any time vested in said institution in its respective names. None of the powers, authority or functions of the corporation provided for in this chapter shall be abated or impaired by this section. Only the name of the institution shall be changed by this section. Whenever such institution is referred to in the constitution and in the laws of Alabama by any one of the respective names by which it has been known, the same shall be considered to refer to University of Montevallo.