Mr. Tom Boland:

Part of the basis for the Senator's question is a genuine one. When people talk about higher education, in particular when they talk about research, they focus very strongly on the science, technology, mathematics subjects as if that was the only area which had economic impact. There is a dawning reality internationally that the real power of innovation lies in multidisciplinary approaches – mixing the arts and humanities and STEM disciplines together. There are no major challenges facing the world that do not require both a hard science approach and a social science or humanities approach. It requires a blend of disciplines. The arts are a key part of the education sector and we would downgrade it at our peril. There is no danger of that from a policy point of view in the HEA.