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Bristol Old Vic theatre school to stop its undergraduate courses

Renowned drama school says ‘unprecedented funding challenges’ make degrees unviable from September 2025

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. 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. 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.

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