"The university felt with the growth in the campus ... the place was no longer fit for purpose so we approached the organisers," Professor Saini said.

The revelation came as Canberra Liberal Andrew Wall questioned how the university's zero tolerance policy on drugs could be reconciled with the Australian-first pill testing trial conducted on campus at the festival in April.

The trial, which only gained final approval at the 11th hour, was widely hailed as a success by medical experts, picking up two potentially lethal substances and seeing two in five participants modify their planned drug consumption.

It is unclear if pill testing will be conducted at next year's Groovin the Moo but harm minimisation advocates are hopeful.

On Wednesday morning, Canberra emergency doctor David Caldicott, who ran the trial, welcomed the move of the festival to Exhibition Park.

While formal negotiations were yet to take place, he said it was likely pill testing would return to the feastival at its new home.

"We will certainly be interested in submitting a proposal [for pill testing] at every festival that presents itself in the ACT," Dr Caldicott said.

"Unless EPIC is under the control of a conservative or right-leaning government, we would definitely be interested in pill testing returning and revisiting it at Groovin The Moo.

"We know that we had an excellent collaboration with Groovin The Moo last yeat, and would congratulate them for finding a venue as exciting as EPIC."

A second trial at the Spilt Milk festival, to be held at Commonwealth Park in Canberra next week, was recently blocked by the federal government agency that controls the land, amid warnings from the Canberra Liberals that it would condone drug use.

A spokeswoman said the University of Canberra was a proud supporter of live music and would continue to host Australian and international acts at the UC Refectory.