Music and arts not government’s ‘strategic priorities’ with HE provider funding halved

This article was updated on 04/05/21 to include a comment from the Musicians' Union.  

Office for Students (OfS), independent regulator for higher education in England, has opened a consultation on recurrent funding for 2021-22, closing on 6 May. 

These funds are used to support higher than usual teaching costs, as well as to support ‘policy areas and government priorities’. The already comparatively low funding provided for performing arts, creative arts, media studies and archaeology is set to be cut in half. 

Meanwhile, funding for specialist providers - including several performing arts conservatoires - is set to increase with the acknowledgement that 'almost all of them may be affected by other funding changes proposed in this consultation'.

On 30 April, the Musicians' Union (MU) published a response to the proposals, denouncing the plans as 'catastrophic' and adding that the notice given for the cuts is 'far too short' to allow HE institutions to plan for September. The MU is filing its response to the consultation and encourages its members to do the same.

A 51-page consultation document - based on funding available for the academic year and the government’s priorities set out in a statutory guidance letter written by Gavin Williamson - is available online. 

Reduction of 50 per cent

Within a section on high-cost subjects, the document reads: ‘The government proposes that the courses in price group C1 that are not among its strategic priorities – covering subjects in music, dance, drama and performing arts; art and design; media studies; and archaeology – are to be subject to a reduction of 50 per cent.’ 

For the remainder of the document, these subjects are placed into a new price group referred to as ‘C1.2’. The other two groups of high-cost subjects are to receive a 12 per cent and a 16 per cent increase in funding, which covers subjects such as nursing, computing and allied health. 

Responding to the government recommendation, OfS goes on to state: ‘We believe that courses in the performing arts, creative arts, media studies and archaeology are very important, bringing huge benefit to society and our culture, as well as to the individuals who take them. They make a particularly important contribution to access and participation.’ 

The consultation then cites the OfS’s published equality and diversity data, including the finding that students studying design, and creative and performing arts have the highest proportion of any broad subject group to have a reported disability. 

'Lower priority'

Referring to the subjects facing funding cuts, the document goes on to repeat that ‘the government does not consider them to be as strategically important as other high-cost disciplines’. 

It continues: ‘While, therefore, we recognise the particular importance of subjects in the proposed price group C1.2 and want provision in those subject areas to continue to be widely available, we believe they are nevertheless lower priority for OfS funding than other high-cost subjects. 

‘When funding is significantly constrained, we believe it right that the grant for these subjects is reduced in order to prioritise other subjects.’

In Gavin Williamson’s guidance letter, which is available to read online, he summaries his strategic priorities for higher education for the next year and beyond: ‘The policy areas included in this guidance reflect my strong view that the OfS should focus on driving up quality, being risk based, minimising bureaucracy, and ensuring that it delivers on equality of opportunity in higher education.’

Other major changes for the upcoming academic year include increased funding for the 'main' high-cost subjects, increased funding for mental health provision, and the withdrawal of the allocation that supports the additional costs of higher education in London.

OfS distributes government funding to over 300 registered HE providers in England. 

The deadline for responses to the consultation is 6 May.