The UK government’s latest proposals – slashing capital funding, capping and freezing arts subject grants, cutting post-study work visas, and introducing a levy on international student tuition – pose a serious threat to the vibrancy and resilience of arts education. Arts degrees have already been disappearing – course closures at various institutions and the sudden closure of the Scottish Institute of Theatre, Dance and Television signal mounting instability. Reducing visa lengths to 18 months, forbidding dependents, and imposing a 6 % “tax” on foreign-student fees will dissuade international applicants, further diminishing a vital revenue stream that subsidises high-cost creative offerings.
With arts subjects already sidelined, the sector faces a damning hierarchy that threatens social mobility and threatens the UK’s creative pipeline. Without urgent corrective action, such as fair, subject weighted…
