Teesside University student, Aisha Cunningham, is campaigning to save creative arts degrees from being cut.
Arts degrees, such as dance, drama and fine art, have been viciously attacked recently and the funding for such degrees has been slashed. In an article from The Times, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland said, "the arts are under attack from a market-driven approach to education that means culture is less appreciated."
Because of this, Vice Chancellor Prof. Paul Croney announced that creative arts degrees at Teesside University would face funding cuts, with many degrees being abolished altogether.
For Aisha Cunningham, a Performing Arts student, this just wasn't good enough and has now made it her mission to show the Vice Chancellor that creative arts degrees should be kept in the prospectus and are valuable to society by starting a petition.
According to Aisha, "the creative industries generate £76.9bn annually – that equates to £8.8m per hour and accounts for over 5% of UK jobs," so it is clear to see that these degrees help to build up a sizeable amount of the UK job market.
Her petition gained traction very quickly with over 500 signatures in its first day, but it now sits comfortably at almost 1,100.
Aisha has said that if the Vice Chancellor doesn't respond to the campaign, she will be more than happy to contact MP Andy McDonald or The Gazette.
We wish her the very best of luck with the campaign and if you feel as strongly about the arts, why not add your name to her petition?
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