News
Closure of the School of Music
28th November 2011
UEA Closes School of Music
After a meeting of University Council this morning, the Union of UEA Students is disappointed to learn that the University of East Anglia will be closing its School of Music.
The Union believes that the closure of the school will be a massive loss to UEA and to the wider community. We will continue to support the peaceful and legal protests of the hundreds of “Save UEA Music” campaigners.
Bill Vine, a Phd Music Student and a key figure in the Save UEA Music campaign team said; “Obviously it’s not over, we’ll be reviewing where to take the campaign from here. We’re disgusted with the decision. We were hopeful this morning that council members would listen to our arguments and consider both the arguments against the closure of the school and the offer from the RMA (Royal Musical Association) and NAMHE (National Association of Music in Higher education) to visit the school for free and assess the options for growth. The duration of the meeting and the early announcement of the decision highlights that this extensive consideration did not happen, and shows the disregard for the school of music amongst the University Executive.”
Nearly 10,000 people have signed the petition to keep the school open and countless messages of support have been written on saveueamusic.org from people all over the world.
The recommendation to close the school came from a panel commissioned by the Vice-Chancellor, and it can be found at this link.
Matthew Myles, Communications Officer at the Union of UEA Students said “There are serious questions to be asked of this report, which didn’t consult with anyone teaching in the School of Music. Allowing a School to be closed by conducting a secret report, lacking in sufficient evidence, and rooted in misinterpretation of a 2002 Review that was a 'positive plan' for the School (see the response of the 2002 authors here), and is without any exploration of alternatives, could set a worrying precedent for our university and universities around the country. The authors of the 2011 Report declined to openly and publicly discuss the Report, despite the overwhelming criticism of its lack of openness in putting the Report together.”
The School has had an offer from the Royal Music Association (RMA) and the National Association for Music in Higher Education (NAMHE) to bring together some of the most successful music academics from around the country to create a plan to allow the School to expand and flourish without being a weight for the university to carry in the long term.
The Union still believes that the University should accept this offer, and should not close the School based on the Report from the Music Review Panel.
For more information please contact Matthew Myles, Communications Officer, 01603 592504, [email protected]