We need a creative higher education strategy

The value of creative arts degrees is a constant subject of media scrutiny. A recurring theme, often voiced by some politicians or political commentators, sees them badged as “Mickey Mouse”, “low value”, or “dead-end”.

They are most often labelled as such because of graduate earnings information – but that data does not give us the full story of both the economic and societal value of a creative degree. Some of our previous work has attempted to unpick the value narrative.

You may be bored of hearing it, but the UK’s creative industries are a major success story, defining our cultural identity, global influence, and social fabric while simultaneously being a fast-growing economic sector. The sector employs 2.4 million people and generates £125 billion a year for the economy.

It is a core part of the government’s industrial strategy, and Skills England projects that this sector will become the largest high-growth employment area in 2025, with this swift expansion continuing through 2030, achieving a growth rate double that of the wider economy.

The whole sector

This trajectory is largely attributable to its highly educated workforce: 75 per cent of those employed hold a degree, significantly exceeding the UK average of 51 per cent. Furthermore, creative higher education serves as a critical engine for research and innovation, in addition to acting as essential cultural centres within their communities.

Creative HE is somewhat unique in the way employers and the public so routinely engage in student work through performances, exhibitions and partnerships, and the artistic community is nurtured through opening the use of specialist equipment, and practitioners routinely teaching on creative courses. Having creative HE within the ecosystem of a place is a profoundly important asset.

Despite this evident contribution, the fundamental role of higher education in supporting the creative industries’ skills base and growth is frequently understated in policy and value discussions. There tends to be a narrow focus on vocational skills and a very small number of disciplines which are more commercially driven (film, games, createch). But policymakers must recognise the link between all parts of our creative ecosystem: from performance to craft to digital skills.

The talent nurtured in subsidised parts of the sector often becomes the resource of the commercial sector. That creative know-how – the fuel in the engine – is about thinking as much as it is about skill acquisition and through it we gain a very good form of growth – with societal as well as economic impacts. For us to truly accelerate the many forms of good impact the sector can have, all boats must rise, not just those in the most commercial environments.

This is important because the UK’s creative graduates transition into a variety of other industries, applying their problem-solving, adaptability, and critical thinking skills to new challenges. While there have been concerns about certain creative skills and the rise of AI, creativity as a way of thinking and working is seen as a fundamental transversal skill by the World Economic Forum and will continue to be in high demand long into the future.

Creative HE knowledge exchange and research activities also foster placemaking and innovation far beyond the creative industries. Through staff and students, institutions contribute to addressing 21st-century challenges, such as environmental sustainability, community cohesion, health, and wellbeing.

Think strategically

The Creative HE Strategy Project was commissioned by GuildHE on behalf of the whole sector to both celebrate and safeguard the talent pipeline into the creative industries and beyond. Roni Brown chairs a taskforce comprising senior representatives from the creative, education, and policy sectors, including Arts Council England, Creative UK, DfE, Research England, Skills England, the British Academy and CHEAD.

We will produce a creative higher education strategy this autumn to go out to sector-wide consultation, which will provide a clear roadmap for the future and leverage HE’s full potential to support national priorities and maximise the impact of creative practice. It will ensure creative higher education maintains its vital role in economic growth, skills development, research excellence, civic engagement, and the UK’s international standing.

But to inform that, we are keen to hear your views on what is currently working and what needs to change to unlock our sector’s potential to support economic and societal success. We need politicians to look under the bonnet and join the dots, and we need positive storytelling, nuanced policy, investment and support for every artform – the healthy soil for growth – and exploit the innovation incubated in our exceptional universities which face extreme challenges. Your input into this call will fundamentally help tell this story and capture what is needed for future success.

This is a pivotal moment. The UK government has recognised that we cannot afford to underutilise an industry that generates £125bn a year for the economy, and to sustain it, we cannot overlook the educational sector that is its driving force. Creative higher education has the power to accelerate growth, opportunity, and living standards across the whole country through its dynamic ecosystem of skills, innovation, cultural engagement and research. Our work will provide insights and perspectives on what the Government’s Industrial Strategy Critical Occupations report (amongst many others) means for what we currently deliver in HE and what should be delivered in the future.

It will also convey that without investment or action by HE, industry, and government, the creative and cultural industries will weaken. The Creative Higher Education Strategy Project is our opportunity to bring together higher education providers and policymakers to design collaborative, considered plans for futureproofing creative HE as the main pipeline for delivering the energy and human capital required for the next chapter of this UK success story.

We invite you all to join us in responding to the open call for evidence and forthcoming workshops through March and April to ensure that all creative HE is high-quality, impactful, relevant, and recognised as an essential part of the strength of our nation.

This article by Dr Kate Wicklow (Director of Policy and Strategy at GuildHE) and Professor Roni Brown (Chair of the Creative HE Strategy Taskforce and Professor Emeritus at University of the Arts London) was first published by Wonkhe on Thursday 19 March 2026.