The last undergraduate course in ceramics in Scotland could be axed under new proposals being discussed by Glasgow School of Art.

Glasgow School of Art has given the following statement to craftscotland about the future of the course.

‘A proposal has been submitted to Glasgow School of Art’s Design School academic committee in respect of the future of the full-time and part-time, undergraduate BA Ceramic Design programmes.  This proposal recommends that due to a national long term decline in interest by students in this area of design provision, students will no longer be recruited to these programmes

Due to this decline, the recruitment performance in ceramics has been a continuing cause of concern and the department has been reviewing the situation for the last five years.   During this period, the School has supported the staff team to implement a range of measures to try to secure the continued viability of these programmes.  However, despite these best efforts, the number of students applying to study ceramics has continued to decline, both at the GSA and nationally. 

Across our other design programmes, competition for places is very high.  In contrast, a growing lack of competition for places within ceramic design represents a significant risk to GSA’s academic reputation and makes it difficult to ensure that consistency of student attainment is maintained across the design programme.

As the remaining provider of undergraduate ceramics programmes in Scotland, and one of the last in the UK we have tried our utmost to retain this particular subject area but the reasons which have led to the closure of so many other ceramics programmes in other institutions across the UK are the same reasons which have lead to this current proposal.

Any decision relating to the recommendation will not affect the current cohort of undergraduate students who will continue their studies as now and will complete in June 2013.  They will be fully supported throughout this time within the Department of Ceramics and as an integral part of the undergraduate academic community.

The proposal is being discussed in the appropriate Academic Committees with a final decision to be taken by the GSA’s Academic Council in March.’

Post your views about this in our discussion forum.