Fears Tory plans to scrap university degrees will damage arts

Conservative plans to introduce legislation allowing university courses with the worst employment outcomes to be closed down risk harming the creative industries, figures in the sector have warned.

Under plans set out ahead of the general election on 4 July, the Conservative party says it will close the "worst-performing" degrees that it deems to be a "rip-off" due to high drop-out rates and "poor" job prospects.

The party says scrapping courses undertaken by 13% of students will save an estimated £910m by 2030, with the money put towards funding 100,000 more apprenticeships by the end of the next parliament.

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But concerns have been raised that the move will impact creative and arts courses, which have already experienced a significant decline in recent years, with former Conservative Culture Minister Lord Vaizey labelling the idea "completely absurd".

Speaking on Wednesday (29 May), Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: "University is great, and it makes a fantastic option for young people, but it's not the only option.

"And what we do know is that there are university degrees that are letting young people down."

The policy announcement comes just weeks after Education Secretary Gillian Keegan told the Office for Students (OfS) – the public body that distributes government money to higher education providers – to freeze grants intended to meet the extra costs of offering music, drama, fashion and other arts courses for undergraduates.

In a letter to the OfS, she said she wanted extra funding for "strategically important high-cost subjects" that support the NHS, science, engineering, and technology.

Meanwhile, former DfE adviser Tim Leunig has called for a cap on creative courses, claiming that neither the economy nor the cultural sector requires the current number of students graduating with degrees in creative subjects.

However, the Conservative proposals have caused concern within the arts and culture sector.

'Arts systematically eroded'

Sally Bacon, Co-Chair of the Cultural Learning Alliance, said it was "not helpful" for government policy to "prioritise learning to count over learning to create".

"Even before [this] latest announcement, we were already seeing the loss of a number of creative and arts degrees.

"When a government determines that expressive arts subjects are strategically unimportant, the arts become systematically eroded in schools and in the higher education sector, even when we know that as well as being valuable for young people’s wellbeing, the capacities, confidence, creativity and skills gained through arts subjects are being increasingly prioritised by employers.

"This is wider than just degree qualifications: a system with the objective of creating the employees of the future is failing to embrace what employers say they want from young people entering the workforce.

"The new government’s investment areas and industrial strategy need to align with a new and ambitious national education and skills strategy, with arts and creative subjects embedded as valued and equal subjects areas in schools and across the university sector.”

The Conservative party has declined to say which courses it believes represent poor value for money.

Schools Minister Damian Hinds told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that it would not be "right or fair" on current students to say which courses his party considered to be "rip-off" degrees, adding that it varied by individual courses rather than by subject.

'Absurd policy'

The policy has also been criticised by former Conservative Culture Minister Lord Vaizey, who said the concept of 'Mickey Mouse' degrees is "something the Tories bang on about at regular intervals", adding that it is "a completely absurd policy".

"The subtext of the policy is of course that humanities degrees are somehow worthless. They are not.

"Not only are they valuable in and of themselves, they provide students with plenty of skills to take into the real world, such as critical thinking.

"And everyone in tech knows that tech benefits from an interaction with the arts.

"Finally, universities are huge engines of social mobility, and as The Sutton Trust has shown less high-powered degrees often provide a route out of poverty for people from low income backgrounds."

'Defend arts courses'

A statement issued by the Campaign for the Arts in the wake of the policy proposal called on all parties contesting the general election to defend arts courses.

"We’re concerned about the implications for arts education," the statement posted on X read.

"A course’s value can’t just be measured by the paycheck you get at the end of it. Learning about the arts and developing creative skills enriches people and society. It can equip students to succeed in a wide range of fields – not least our creative industries.

"The UK excels in this area because we have nurtured the arts and creativity – in our schools, in our communities, in our national life – over generations. But recently, arts education has been shrinking at an alarming rate.

"Creative courses have been singled out for significant funding cuts. The government has said they are 'not among its strategic priorities'. [Higher education] providers have cut places, courses or even whole departments.

"We are concerned that this policy would lead to unintended consequences – harming the creative industries and access to the arts. Arts courses open people’s minds and give them the skills they need to create. Too many have closed and are closing.

"We urge all parties to value and defend them."