Arts institutions hit hard as OfS details teaching grant cuts

Arts and specialist institutions have been the hit hard after the Office for Students (OfS) announced how cuts to university teaching grants will affect individual allocations.

The regulator has confirmed that nursing, computing, geography and archaeology courses are set to lose £41.6 million while creative and performing arts subjects will lose £12.9 million in support.

Former education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, instructed the regulator earlier this month to remove support for several “high-cost” subjects after she cut the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) budget for the second year in a row.

The OfS has been given a budget of £1.25 billion for 2026-27, after £50.9 million was taken out of the grant by ministers.

Phillipson, who has since been replaced in post by Lucy Powell, said that in light of the government’s “fiscal inheritance”, she had had to set the budget at a “level consistent with the resources available”, and was therefore choosing to focus money for the SPG on “those areas of highest national importance”.

Sector leaders responded with dismay, with University Alliance chief executive Vanessa Wilson calling it a “short-sighted and irresponsible decision”.

How the reductions affect individual universities was confirmed by the OfS on 30 July, with several arts-focused institutions hit heavily by drops in their individual recurrent funding allocations.

Creative and performing arts subjects, which received £16.8 million in support in 2024-25 and £12.9 million in 2025-26, will next year receive nothing. The OfS’ support for specialist providers has also dropped by 0.5 per cent to £57.1 million.

As a result, the University for the Creative Arts will lose more than half of its funding (50.5 per cent). It will receive nothing for high-cost subjects but £608,206 for student access and success. Last year it was given £1.2 million across both areas. 

Arts University Bournemouth has lost 40.7 per cent of its funding, whole Norwich University of the Arts has lost 40.3 per cent and Leeds Arts University has lost 30.3 per cent.

A spokesperson for Norwich University of the Arts, called the reduction “disappointing”.

“The creative industries are one of the government’s own identified priority sectors within its Industrial Strategy, yet this decision doesn’t appear to reflect that strategy, or any consultation with the institutions most affected,” they said. “It doesn’t take a long-term view of how the UK sustains a pipeline of creative talent to support economic growth.”

But other providers have also experienced a sharp cut. Worst affected as a proportion of funding was Lincoln Bishop University which has lost 51.4 per cent of its grant, adding to the financial concerns at the institution that posted a deficit in its most recent accounts of £6.5 million.

Worst affected in terms of overall money lost was the University of Nottingham, which will see its allocation reduced by £2.3 million, although this was only a 4 per cent reduction overall. The Open University will lose £1.8 million, and Anglia Ruskin University will lose £1.7 million. In total 17 institutions will lose more than £1 million due to the changes.

A few providers saw an uptick in their funding, such Bath Spa University which has seen its grant increase by £1.7 million, up nearly half compared to last year. King’s College London will get £1.3 million more. Harper Adams University will get £661,898 extra.

The total recurrent funding for providers announced by the OfS comes to £1,194.6 million.

Some £20 million of funding is set aside for Uni Connect, a programme which promotes higher education’s benefits to underrepresented groups, while £10 million is for in-year adjustments to individual arrangements and for new providers joining the OfS register.

georgia.luckhurst@timeshighereducation.com