The General Election's Big Issues: Funding for Arts and Humanities Degrees
Ciara Taggart - Guest Writer
In this series of short articles, writers for InTuition will be looking at the biggest issues political parties need to deal with in the upcoming general election. In this article, Ciara Taggart looks at funding for different types of degrees.
An extremely pertinent but relatively undiscussed issue is funding for humanities and arts degrees. Resources, contact hours, and facilities are just as important to humanities students as they are to those studying STEM subjects, but due to a myriad of issues, it often feels like we get far less than what we’re paying for. Society in general often seems to value STEM graduates more highly than humanities ones, and this issue is clearly reflected in where funding is prioritised at universities.
Humanities and arts degrees are just as challenging, demanding, and involved as their STEM counterparts, but their reputation as “easy” and “cushy” often leaves us deprived of resources - lab equipment, for example, is practically guaranteed to be provided, whereas the necessary materials for humanities and arts courses such as art supplies and tickets to the theatre shows, poetry readings and arts events required by many modules are not.
To see a politician campaign on behalf of humanities and arts students, to promise to hold universities to a higher standard in terms of funding and resources for these courses, would be priceless. Not only would the overall university experience be dramatically improved for those of us studying these courses, it would also help change a society that values STEM degrees over humanities ones.
While STEM degrees are undoubtedly more expensive, we pay the exact same fees, and deserve to get our money’s worth just as much, and to have our degrees met with the same amount of respect, instead of “but what are you going to do with that?”
Read the previous article in this series, where Daniel Priestley looks at the issue of Access to Justice here.
In this series of short articles, writers for InTuition will be looking at the biggest issues political parties need to deal with in the upcoming general election. In this article, Ciara Taggart looks at funding for different types of degrees.
An extremely pertinent but relatively undiscussed issue is funding for humanities and arts degrees. Resources, contact hours, and facilities are just as important to humanities students as they are to those studying STEM subjects, but due to a myriad of issues, it often feels like we get far less than what we’re paying for. Society in general often seems to value STEM graduates more highly than humanities ones, and this issue is clearly reflected in where funding is prioritised at universities.
Humanities and arts degrees are just as challenging, demanding, and involved as their STEM counterparts, but their reputation as “easy” and “cushy” often leaves us deprived of resources - lab equipment, for example, is practically guaranteed to be provided, whereas the necessary materials for humanities and arts courses such as art supplies and tickets to the theatre shows, poetry readings and arts events required by many modules are not.
To see a politician campaign on behalf of humanities and arts students, to promise to hold universities to a higher standard in terms of funding and resources for these courses, would be priceless. Not only would the overall university experience be dramatically improved for those of us studying these courses, it would also help change a society that values STEM degrees over humanities ones.
While STEM degrees are undoubtedly more expensive, we pay the exact same fees, and deserve to get our money’s worth just as much, and to have our degrees met with the same amount of respect, instead of “but what are you going to do with that?”
Read the previous article in this series, where Daniel Priestley looks at the issue of Access to Justice here.
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