Creative arts degrees cost taxpayers 30% more than engineering degrees, report says

Creative arts degrees, which are studied by 37,000 university students a year, cost taxpayers 30 per cent more on average than engineering degrees, a report has revealed.

Taxpayers provide bigger subsidies to students who study arts and humanities because their graduates typically earn less and pay less of their loans back, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) report says.

This is a consequence of the current English loan-based system in which only the highest-earning graduates pay most of their student loans back, the research concludes.

Of the £9bn the government spends per cohort on undergraduate students each year, more than £1bn is on creative arts courses alone, the IFS analysis says.

And on average, creative arts degrees are approximately 30 per cent more expensive for the taxpayer than engineering degrees under the current funding system.

The findings come after the IFS revealed that male students studying creative arts, English, philosophy, agriculture, communications, psychology and languages earn less at the age of 29, on average, than their peers who opted to avoid higher education altogether.

The cost to government is around £11,000 per economics student who borrows to help with tuition fees and maintenance loans, while it is more than £35,000 per creative arts borrower.

The government could make universities pay a levy for charging tuition fees above a certain level in areas where it wants to reduce spending, the IFS report suggests.

For example, a “negative teaching grant” of £3,000 for arts and humanities courses could be introduced so that government allocates less money to those courses.

The report also says that reducing the tuition fee cap for arts and humanities subjects to £6,000 could reverse some of the increase in funding these subjects have seen in recent years.

Jack Britton, senior economist at IFS and an author of the report, said the government “lost control” of where its spending was targeted after the tuition fee reforms in 2012.

He added: “This was exacerbated by the fact that almost all courses charged the maximum tuition fees. We now see that of the £9bn that the government spends on undergraduate higher education each year, more than £1bn is on creative arts courses alone.”

Chris Hale, director of policy at Universities UK, said: “Relying on earnings to define contribution fails to recognise the positive impact on our culture and society made by sectors with lower-than-average earnings, such as the arts and creative sector.

“Similarly, individuals may deliberately choose to pursue subjects with lower earnings – so higher costs to government – in order to take up careers in public services and the charity sector and make a positive difference.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The creative industries play a major role in the UK socially and culturally, but also economically and as part of our industrial strategy.

“Graduates from these degrees not only work in the creative industries but also have skills widely desired by businesses, including critical thinking, communication and creativity.

“Students rightly expect to get a good deal for their investment in higher education, and we set up the Office for Students to champion the interests of students, promote choice and ensure that higher education delivers value for money for both students and taxpayers.”