Creative arts teaching grants to be cut to zero – here are the universities losing funding

The Office for Students (OfS) has confirmed that government teaching grants for creative and performing arts subjects have been cut to zero for 2026-27, with several arts-focused universities losing more than 40 per cent of their total funding.

While creative and performing arts subjects received £16.8 million in teaching grant support in 2024-25 and £12.9 million in 2025-26, they will receive nothing in 2026-27.

As well as cuts to arts subjects, nursing, computing, geography and archaeology courses will lose £41.6 million.

Here are the universities most affected by the teaching grant allocation changes for 2026-27, according to the OfS.

Universities affected by teaching grant cuts to creative and performing arts

• University for the Creative Arts  – losing 50.5 per cent of its funding, receiving nothing for high-cost subjects and £608,206 for student access and success (down from £1.2 million across both in the previous year)
• Arts University Bournemouth – losing 40.7 per cent of its funding
• Norwich University of Arts – losing 40.3 per cent of its funding
• Leeds Arts University – losing 30.3 per cent of its funding

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Universities affected by teaching grant cuts across the board

• Lincoln Bishop University – losing 51.4 per cent of its grant, the largest proportional cut of any institution in the announcement, on top of an existing £6.5 million deficit
• University of Nottingham – losing four per cent of its grant, but the worst affected in terms of money, seeing allocations reduced by £2.3 million
• The Open University – losing £1.8 million
• Anglia Ruskin University  – losing £1.7 million

Universities receiving higher grants than last year

• Bath Spa University – receiving £1.7 million grant increase (up by almost half)
• King’s College London – receiving £1.3 million grant increase
• Harper Adams University  – receiving £661,898 grant increase

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Featured image via Unsplash