Arts: Higher Education

(asked on 18th August 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to fund arts subjects in higher education.


Answered by
Michelle Donelan Portrait
Michelle Donelan
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
This question was answered on 10th September 2021

The government values arts and creative subjects in higher education. Ensuring that there is high-quality provision in a range of subjects is critical in order to build our workforce and support our public services. Provision for higher education in the arts is also intellectually rewarding and culturally enriching for those studying them, and for wider society. An estimated 8% of the total student population (in England) – i.e. 165,555 students – chose to take up courses in the creative arts and design[1]. Our student loan system supports students with the qualifications to benefit from higher education to access higher education, including arts and design courses with a total of £1.8 billion made available as tuition fee and maintenance loans in the 2019/20 academic year for students doing art and design courses[2].

The government also supports arts courses via the Strategic Priorities Grant, a funding pot to support the provision of higher education. This includes high-cost subject funding - extra money given to providers to deliver expensive subjects, including arts. For the 2021/22 academic year, the high-cost subject funding rate for arts courses will be £121.50, an investment of £18 million by the government into the teaching of creative arts, performing arts and media subjects[3]. We have also asked the Office for Students to invest an additional £10 million in our world-leading specialist providers, many of which specialise in arts provision.

We continue to support the provision of arts subjects and ensure that Strategic Priorities Grant funding is used effectively.

[1] Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), Table 49: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-49 (English providers only).

[2] Analysis of information from the Student Loans Company on the loan outlay for HE arts courses for academic year 2019/20. This figure covers English-domiciled undergraduate and postgraduate students who were studying full- or part-time.

[3] Office for Students, Recurrent funding for 2021-22, Table 2: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/b2eaeeb4-7fed-4eda-9868-a4671f170129/recurrent-funding-2021-22.pdf.

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