Education

University museums, galleries, and collections in Scotland are facing a 20% reduction in the grants they receive from the funding body for higher education in 2024/25, while those with unrecognised collections will not receive any support.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) said it had reduced the budget by 26% from £1.2m in 2023/24 to £884,000 in 2024/25 in response to a “particularly challenging” budget.

University museums that do not hold recognised collections will be removed entirely from the grant allocation, while institutions with recognised collections will see their grants reduced by 20%.

Museums Galleries Scotland said the cut would “halt excellent collaborative work”, while University Museums in Scotland (UMIS) has written to SFC to reverse the move. 

UMIS told the Museums Association that the cut was made without consultation or impact assessment. They warned that the decision would put Scottish institutions in a worse position than the rest of the UK, notably as Research England has awarded a 20% uplift in its Higher Education Museums, Galleries, and Collections Fund.

A spokesperson for the Scottish Funding Council said: “We understand the value of the university museums, galleries and collections. However, in the context of a particularly challenging budget settlement, we cannot afford to fund everything, and we have had to make some very difficult choices.

“We will continue to invest £884,000 in supporting university museums, galleries and collections which have Recognised Collections of National Significance to Scotland as designated and supported by the Museums Galleries Scotland Recognition Scheme.”

Rose Bruford College is closing its acting course and campus in Wigan, two years after taking it over following the closure of the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA).

The Stage reports that the college's leaders said it was a "solely financial decision" and it will be supporting current students to find an "alternative location" to complete their studies.

No new students will be joining Rose Bruford’s Wigan base in September, while six members of staff on fixed-term contracts will not have them renewed.

"We have taken the disappointing decision to close the course, and therefore the campus, in Wigan," a spokesperson for the college said. 

"This is solely a financial decision as it is no longer viable to deliver the quality of course that our students deserve and that we pride ourselves on, based on the current financial model."

"We are currently working to identify an alternative location to enable current students to complete their course."

The warden of Goldsmiths, University of London has said that studying creative arts, social sciences or humanities is "a bridge rather than a barrier to success" after the university jumped 22 places in the Complete University Guide (CUG) rankings.

It's the highest position in five years for the university specialising in the study of creative, cultural and social subjects, which now ranks 52 out of 130 institutions. 

Professor Frances Corner, warden of Goldsmiths, said: “This is very welcome recognition of our achievements and as a place where our students can further their ambitions.

“It’s also very important that the employment prospects of our students are creditably high with those who study STEM subjects and that studying creative arts, social sciences or humanities is a bridge rather than a barrier to success."

The CUG data noted that a Goldsmiths Music graduate’s prospects for progression “fly high at 82.8 per cent” and indicated that studying for an arts and design degree in London had “a great impact” on future employment opportunities. 

Goldsmith's success follows a recent announcement that 130 of the university's teaching posts are at risk of redundancy as it seeks to make £20m of savings amid declining student numbers.

It is one of at least 14 universities implementing redundancy programmes affecting arts degrees or closing creative courses, according to research by Queen Mary University.

The cuts, which will impact 11 of 19 departments, including Music, Theatre and Performance, English and Creative Writing, and Visual Cultures, have been called "unprecendendetned" in scale, intensity and speed by the University College Union.

Corner previously defended the cuts by saying: "Like other universities, we are having to make difficult decisions because of a funding model widely acknowledged to be unfit for purpose.

“Creative institutions have also borne the brunt of chronic underfunding of arts in schools, and within this environment, fewer students are choosing these subjects at university.

“We are fully committed to retaining the arts, humanities and social sciences as core elements of our educational offer.”

Almost a quarter of secondary schools are not meeting a new government expectation for Key Stage 3 pupils to be taught an hour of classroom music a week, a survey has found.

Schools Week reports that the expectation was introduced in September as part of the government’s national plan for music, with similar expectations also introduced for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.

However, a survey of senior secondary school leaders found that 16 per cent were teaching for less than an hour a week, and 2 per cent were not teaching at all.

Teacher Tapp's research found that another five per cent use a system in which pupils are only taught for part of the year.

Overall, two-thirds said they met the weekly commitment of one hour, with seven per cent saying they taught for more than an hour.

Ongoing issues with recruitment accountability pressures and funding have been cited as possible reasons for schools failing to meet the target.