Welcome new students to XXX university.

[grammar-in-use]

Hello everyone,

Does "Welcome New Students to XXX University" (written on a banner as a welcome message to freshers) sound natural?

Thanks a lot in advance!

 

[Myridon]

"Welcome New Students to XXX University" urges other people to welcome any new students.
"Welcome, New Students, to XXX University" tells the new students they are welcome.

(Let's eat Grandma! Let's eat, Grandma! - Commas save lives.)

 

[grammar-in-use]

"Welcome New Students to XXX University" urges other people to welcome any new students.
"Welcome, New Students, to XXX University" tells the new students they are welcome.

(Let's eat Grandma! Let's eat, Grandma! - Commas save lives.)

Thank you very much!
OK, I see. So, it's weird to see "Welcome New Students to XXX University" on a banner (like the attached one), right?

Let's take Stanford for example. Can the banner read like this:
a. Stanford welcomes Class of 2019
b. Welcome to Stanford
c. Welcome New Students

In this context, the banner doesn't normally read "Welcome New Students to Stanford University", does it?

 

[Myridon]

OK, I see. So, it's weird to see "Welcome New Students to XXX University" on a banner (like the attached one), right?

It's not weird other than it's awfully long. We're quite used to seeing grammar mistakes on banners and punctuation is sometimes left out of signs. Banners are ordered by someone's assistant not by the professors in the English department and the people who make them are often not aware of grammar at all.
Your suggestions are more practical and to the point. (The people pained by the missing commas in the original are pained by the missing "the" in a. )