In a letter to the Office for Students (OfS), which distributes the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG), Bridget Phillipson, secretary of state for education, has requested funding trade offs, asking for removal of funding for some nursing, humanities and creative arts courses in order to 'protect' STEM subjects.
The Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) budget is an annual funding package for 'high-cost' courses and other priority areas to supplement teaching costs. Bridget Phillipson's letter includes a series of 'trade-offs' in the distribution of the SPG: removing funding from some courses, including humanities and the creative arts, in order to 'protect' subjects such as medicine, dentistry, veterinary science, chemistry and engineering.
NSEAD believes the guidance risks presenting higher education primarily through the lens of workforce supply rather than as a broader public, cultural and creative endeavour. The directives focus heavily on STEM and industrial priorities but do not recognise that the UK's creative industries remain one of the country's fastest-growing sectors.
When Bridget Phillipson says the trade offs are: 'central to advancing this government’s missions and the growth sectors that underpin our future prosperity' we believe this ignores both the economic and wider public value of the arts.
Sophie Leach, deputy general secretary, said:
'Creative disciplines should be recognised as strategic investments rather than optional cultural subjects. Our industrial strategy depends upon designers, visual communicators, makers and creative problem-solvers. Innovation does not happen through technical expertise alone.
'The UK's creative industries, manufacturing, digital technologies and cultural sectors all rely upon graduates whose education combines technical expertise with creative thinking.
'A successful industrial strategy requires investment not only in science and technology, but also in the creative education that enables ideas to become products, services to support people and places; and experiences that improve lives.
'We call on the government to reconsider these so-called trade offs, and recognise creative disciplines as national assets that will be broken without investment.'
Bridget Phillipson's letter and directive can be read here.