Arts institutions hit hard as OfS details teaching grant cuts

Arts and specialist institutions have been 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 in support, while creative and performing arts subjects will lose £12.9 million.

Earlier this month, Bridget Phillipson, who was then education secretary, instructed the regulator 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. University Alliance chief executive Vanessa Wilson called 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 its funding (50.5 per cent). It will receive nothing for high-cost subjects, but will get £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, while 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,” the spokesperson 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 sharp cuts. 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, which 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, whose allocation will shrink by £2.3 million, although this represents 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 because of the changes.

A few providers enjoyed an uptick in funding, among them Bath Spa University, whose grant has risen by £1.7 million, up nearly half compared with last year. King’s College London will get £1.3 million more. Harper Adams University will receive £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 that promotes higher education’s benefits to under-represented groups, while £10 million is for in-year adjustments to individual arrangements and for new providers joining the OfS register.

georgia.luckhurst@timeshighereducation.com