Brexit? We’re still world leaders and it’s business as usual, say art schools

LONDON’S leading art schools, which have produced talent from O l y mp i c c au l d ro n d e s i g n e r T h o ma s He a t h e r w i c k to fashion pioneer Alexander McQueen, have insisted that it is “business as usual” after the Brexit vote.

Hundreds of foreign students enrol each year at institutions such as the Royal College of Art and the University of the Arts London, which numbers C e n t r a l S a i n t Mar t i n s among its colleges.

Paul Thompson, rector of the RCA, said the college, which has students from 65 countries, would remain an “international” seat of learning and plans for a major expansion of its Battersea campus would go ahead. He said: “The state of play as far as we are concerned is it is business as usual until further notice. We still want to expand research into new areas and it is a plan that will not be put on hold. At the moment London universities and art and design education and the creative industries are just so strong and we have to make sure nothing weakens that.”

Both the RCA and UAL have moved to reassure new students from the European Union, currently charged the same as those from the UK, that they will not face a hefty rise in fees as a result of the Brexit vote.

Business leaders issued a rallying call last week for London to capitalise on opportunities created by Britain leaving the EU. And yesterday the capital’s deputy mayor for business, self-made multi-millionaire Rajesh Agrawal, said it was vital the world knows “that London is open for business”.

Nigel Carrington, the vice-chancellor of UAL, said he hoped a deal could be struck offering “some form of free movement” for EU students and that the college would still attract international applications. Eight hundred EU nationals are expected to start there later this year.

He said: “In our case they come to us largely by reputation ... the UK and London in particular is seen as the global centre of creative education. There is a way of teaching in the UK around independent learning and l e a r ni ng by d o i ng , e ve n l e a r ni ng through trying and failing, that is very different from other systems.”

He said there was “a risk” some EU nationals could be put off applying to study in London, but added: “We will work very, very hard to make sure we are just as diverse and tolerant and multicultural as we’ve always been.”