One of the UK’s most celebrated drama schools, which counts the Oscar-winners Olivia Colman, Daniel Day-Lewis and Jeremy Irons among its alumni, is to scrap its undergraduate degrees due to a range of financial challenges.
Bristol Old Vic theatre school, founded in 1946, said its undergraduate training model was now “financially unsustainable”.
Other former students and graduates of the school include the Oscar nominee Pete Postlethwaite, Star Trek’s Patrick Stewart, The Crown’s Erin Doherty and Game of Thrones’ Stephen Dillane.
The school said the capping of student fees, restrictions to international student visas, cuts in grants and increases in costs of living and teaching had all influenced the decision to shut down the undergrad programme from September 2025.
The school will continue delivering postgraduate courses including an MFA in professional acting, an MFA in professional voice studies, an MA in screen acting, an MA in drama directing, an MA in drama writing and an MA in performance design. It will also continue to offer short courses.
Fiona Francombe, the principal and chief executive of Bristol Old Vic theatre school, said: “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.
“As a result, we will no longer be offering undergraduate training from September 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.
“We have always been known for producing extraordinary work, training wonderfully talented people, and reaching audiences of all ages. This legacy will continue as we begin this new chapter of our story.”
The school also singled out a decision by the Office for Students (OfS), to temporarily stop accepting new applications from universities and colleges seeking to register with the higher education regulator.
The OfS said it had made the decision in order to support its work in response to the “financial challenges” affecting the sector.
The theatre school said registration with the OfS, which can take up to two years, would have allowed it to look at potential future grant funding and the possibility of re-introducing international students to the school.
The school, which also includes Brian Blessed, Sean Pertwee, Miranda Richardson, Mark Strong and Gene Wilder among its alumni, said it is 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.
“The trustees intend to create a sustainable long-term future for the school to keep it at the forefront of dramatic arts training for many years to come, but need time and space to work through the options,” it added.
The decision does not affect Bristol Old Vic theatre, which has been a separate organisation since 1986.
Fraser Amos, student officer with Equity, the performing arts and entertainment trade union, said: “We are saddened to hear of loss of undergraduate courses at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. These cuts demonstrate that the funding model for higher education is broken beyond repair. Urgent reform including public funding is required to safeguard the future of performing arts education in the UK, reduce financial barriers to access and ensure performers from working-class and marginalised backgrounds are supported to enter the industry.”
