diff --git a/reframe/utility/__init__.py b/reframe/utility/__init__.py
index 279f7115e9..d0aba8b887 100644
--- a/reframe/utility/__init__.py
+++ b/reframe/utility/__init__.py
@@ -88,10 +88,12 @@ def import_module_from_file(filename, force=False):
     module_name = _get_module_name(rel_filename)
     if rel_filename.startswith('..'):
         # We cannot use the standard Python import mechanism here, because the
-        # module to import is outside the top-level package
+        # module to import is outside the top-level package. We also mangle
+        # the name that we assign to the module, in order to avoid clashes
+        # with other modules loaded with a standard `import` or with multiple
+        # test files with the same name that reside in different directories.
         module_hash = sha256(filename.encode('utf-8')).hexdigest()[:8]
-        module_name = f'rfm_{module_name}_{module_hash}'
-
+        module_name = f'{module_name}@{module_hash}'
         return _do_import_module_from_file(filename, module_name)
 
     # Extract module name if `filename` is under `site-packages/` or the
diff --git a/unittests/test_loader.py b/unittests/test_loader.py
index afd0a6fe06..2100f875d3 100644
--- a/unittests/test_loader.py
+++ b/unittests/test_loader.py
@@ -90,7 +90,6 @@ def test_load_fixtures(loader):
 
 
 def test_existing_module_name(loader, tmp_path):
-    print(type(tmp_path))
     test_file = tmp_path / 'os.py'
     shutil.copyfile('unittests/resources/checks/emptycheck.py', test_file)
     checks = loader.load_from_file(test_file)
diff --git a/unittests/test_utility.py b/unittests/test_utility.py
index f6c81c694d..210889422f 100644
--- a/unittests/test_utility.py
+++ b/unittests/test_utility.py
@@ -486,8 +486,8 @@ def test_import_from_file_existing_module_name(tmp_path):
 
     module = util.import_module_from_file(test_file)
     assert module.var == 1
-    assert not hasattr(module, 'abc')
-    assert hasattr(os, 'abc')
+    assert not hasattr(module, 'path')
+    assert hasattr(os, 'path')
 
 
 def test_import_from_file_load_directory_relative():