GuildHE and UKADIA, with a steering group of creative specialist higher education providers and Creative UK, have launched a new report, The Value of Creative Graduates, which investigates and addresses the challenges of defining the value of creative graduates.
It sets out the unique impact of creative degrees and creative pedagogy and evidences the significant contribution specialist creative institutions – including Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) – make to their regions, both culturally and economically, supported by case studies.
The report features a series of recommendations for the higher education sector, businesses and government to encourage a realignment of the perception of creative graduates’ value and ensure that there’s equality of access and opportunity for individuals.
These recommendations include asking the government and regulators to rethink the current ‘value’ measures of graduates, such as highly skilled and salary metrics; asking non-creative industries to better articulate the value of creative skills to their productivity, growth and innovation activities; better careers IAG and alumni tracking; and ensuring sustainable funding models for specialist creative providers to protect the diversity of the globally valued UK higher education sector.
The incoming government has made a commitment, through the Labour Party’s Sector Deal and Labour Creatives work, to support the development of creative skills and harness them to support national growth.
“The UK has a world-leading creative industry,” says Dr Kate Wicklow, Policy Director at GuildHE. “In 2022, government estimated that it provided over 2.4 million jobs and generated £126bn in gross value added (GVA) to the economy.”
Lisa Mann, Executive Director for Academic Innovation at AUB, and representing UKADIA, says:
"Collectively higher education providers, employers and policymakers need to collaborate to support the future pipeline of creative skills. Creative education has been eroded by austerity and policy change that has impacted access and participation, industry collaboration with education providers, and the role of culture in regional development.
“With the new Labour government, we must come together to address these issues and barriers for the better. Championing the incredible value creative graduates bring to our society, recognising the subsequent economic contribution of the creative industries and ensuring we collectively commit to improving diversity in the sector, will be the first steps to a fairer and more dynamic creative skills system."
