Bristol Old Vic shutters ‘unsustainable’ undergraduate courses

One of the UK’s most acclaimed drama schools is to end its undergraduate courses, citing “unprecedented funding challenges” which have made its training model “financially unsustainable”.

The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, whose alumni include Sir Daniel Day-Lewis, Olivia Colman and Sir Patrick Stewart, has announced that it is no longer accepting applications for its undergraduate degrees and will not admit undergraduates from September 2025.

It will, however, continue to offer “intensive postgraduate courses” – in professional acting, professional voice studies, screen acting, drama directing, drama writing and performance design and “exciting, accessible short courses”, explained the school in a statement published on 6 January.

The stand-alone drama school – which opened in 1946 after the founding of its parent Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company – said it was working closely with the University of the West of England, its degree-validating body, to “make sure that the quality of the training current students receive will not be affected, and that they will be able to complete their degree courses as planned”.

Among its alumni to enrol straight from school are Sir Daniel, Sir Patrick, Brian Blessed, Jeremy Irons, Sean Pertwee and Miranda Richardson, with Ms Colman, Greta Scacchi, Pete Postlethwaite, Mark Strong and Olivia Williams studying after taking undergraduate degrees elsewhere.

In its statement, the school explained “recent challenges that are having a widespread impact across the sector have combined to make the school’s undergraduate training model financially unsustainable”.

“These include capping of student fees, restrictions to international student visas, cuts in grants, and increases in costs of living and teaching,” it continued.

“Furthermore, the Office for Students’ recent announcement that it would not be accepting applications for self-registration until August [20]25 at the earliest has necessitated a completely new approach to the school’s business planning,” it added.

The theatre school’s latest accounts show the school posted a £690,300 deficit on some £4 million of expenditure, with the shortfall blamed on the loss of about £500,000 in specialist conservatoire funding following the decision to liquidate the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama, a coalition of UK performing arts schools, in 2022.

Fiona Francombe, the school’s principal and chief executive, blamed the wider pressures faced by the UK’s performing arts education institutions for the decision.

“Along with many arts and higher education organisations, we are facing unprecedented funding challenges which we need to address as our current training model, focusing on teaching undergraduate degree courses, is not viable in the future,” said Ms Francombe.

“As a result, we will no longer be offering undergraduate training from September [20]25 but will continue to provide postgraduate training and other courses. By taking this decision now we are able to plan for the next two academic years calmly, and with our students’ best interests at heart.

“It is our intention to create a long-term sustainable future for the school where we can deliver high-calibre training for which the school is renowned, but we need time and space to work through the options and our current focus must be on existing students and staff.”

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com