University funding cuts ‘will ruin Scotland’s architectural prowess’
Experts warn nation’s reputation as world-leading training centre could be destroyedEdd McCracken - Herald Scotland
Scotland’s place as a world-leading centre for training architects and town planners could be destroyed, according to the country’s top architecture and planning organisations.
Scottish
archetectural
and planning prowess on display in Edinburgh at the
offices built for the local council
The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) plans to cut funding for architecture courses at Scottish universities by nearly a quarter.
If this happens heavyweight groups – including the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS), the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the Architects Registration Board (ARB), and the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) – warned they might not accredit students at Scottish institutions as architects or town planners.
It could ultimately lead to the end of architecture and planning education in Scotland, they said, and would be “disastrous” for the entire sector and betray the architectural legacy of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Robert Adam and Alexander Thomson.
Under current arrangements, students of the built environment, including architecture and town planning, receive £6,700 a year to cover course costs. But in a consultation document on how all subjects are funded, published on September 25, the SFC proposed a cut to £5,000 a year, a drop of 22%, the biggest fall of all subjects.
Architecture
proposed
for Edinburgh's World Heritage Centre
- thankfully the developers Mountgrange went into liquidation
- thankfully the developers Mountgrange went into liquidation
It has enraged the entire architecture community in Scotland and across the UK. Should it go ahead, Scottish students would be funded by a third less than their counterparts in England.
Consultation closed on December 4 and sources indicate the SFC was “surprised” by the level of condemnation its proposals attracted from the built environment sector.
In his response, Gordon Smith, chairman of the RIAS education committee, said the proposals would have “a disastrous reduction in Scotland’s economic competitiveness in the built environment”.
Veronica Burbridge, national director of the RTPI in Scotland, said the cuts would be “at best short-sighted, and at worst a severe dereliction of duty by the SFC”.
She added: “These cuts, if implemented, could mean the end of planning education in Scotland as we know it, which would be a terrible end to a proud history of innovation, free-thinking and positive change.”
Fundamental to the SFC’s proposed cut is that architecture and town planning are not studio-based subjects, which traditionally require expensive technical support, space and materials. Its proposal would fund it at the level of a less expensive, classroom-based subject.
This rationale, according to the professional bodies, showed a lack of understanding about how the built environment subjects are taught.
It was “seriously flawed or at best has been misinterpreted,” according to the RIAS.
Social
housing
- some inspiring architecture from GlasgowIn its response, the RIBA said it showed “the document under discussion has been ill-conceived and hastily assembled”.
The ARB also pointed out that for it to accredit architects, 50% of the student work should be design-based, the majority done within a studio. It concluded it was “concerned”, if the cuts went ahead, whether students would have the resources available to be taught to professional standards.
Scottish-trained architects have been hailed as some of the best in the world. In the past three years, the RIBA President’s Bronze Medal, one of the top accolades in the industry, has been won by a student from Strathclyde and a student from the Mackintosh School of Architecture at Glasgow School of Art.
Edinburgh
University's
Appleton TowerRIBA president Ruth Reid said: “It seems remarkable that in the light of frequent governmental endorsements of architects’ and architecture’s centrality to the UK economy, we should be discussing a proposal that seems almost certain to undo decades of achievement.”
The SFC also proposes a cut in funding to education and science students, and opposition politicians called on the Scottish Government to intervene.
An SFC spokeswoman said it was analysing the responses. She added: “We are aware concerns have been raised around the built environment group and will want to get a better understanding of what these are as we work through the next part of the process.
“Whatever the outcome universities will continue to receive a block grant which they will be able to allocate to subjects according to their own priorities and missions.”
See also:
Architecture and Notable Architects
UK architects petition against Israel
Opportunity for city council to rescue Canongate from the ashes of Mountgrange
Not in My Backyard, Say an Increasing Number of Germans
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