Don’t underestimate the value of arts degrees

Letters
·1 min read
<span>Photograph: Alamy</span>
Photograph: Alamy

The fact that education comes down to strategic value indicates to me that the people who think about these things do not properly understand education (Plans for 50% funding cut to arts subjects at universities ‘catastrophic’, 6 May). It is obvious that, for some of the needs of society, we need strategic choices in education, because society needs medical staff, vets, architects, lawyers accountants and the like.

But on top of vocational training, what the UK desperately needs is people who can think critically and analytically, who can use their imagination, and who can communicate. We get such people when they are allowed to study the subjects they really enjoy, because all subjects will teach such important and transferable skills.

The country will not only be poorer culturally by cutting the arts, it will also be poorer in terms of producing highly motivated, smart people who are urgently needed across a wide range of sectors of the economy. This is why cutting arts and culture from higher education is a huge mistake, and I say this as a professor of physics.
Martin Dove
Emeritus professor, Queen Mary University of London

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