Dundee University has axed five masters courses for the next academic year amid dwindling student numbers.
The five courses, all taught at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, have been scrapped by bosses after a review of the university portfolio.
These masters courses are:
- MDes Comics and Graphic Novels
- MSc Design for Healthcare
- MFA Drawing
- MFA Arts and Humanities
- MSc Art Science and Visual Thinking
All information regarding the courses has been scrubbed from Dundee University’s website.
But the decision to scrap the MDes Comics and Graphic Novels, which launched in 2016, has been met with criticism from some in the industry, who say it could be detrimental to the city which is the home of the Beano and The Dandy.
‘You will lose people coming to Dundee’
One comic artist, who did not wished to be named, said: “As an art form, (comics) is really underrepresented and underfunded.
“And I feel like this is another nail in the coffin for it – not even the home of comics takes it seriously enough to dedicate time to a masters.
“I know so many young students who have come to Dundee specifically because it’s the home of comics and it has this amazing course.
“But why would people stay in Dundee to further their education if one of the main draws of it is no longer represented?
“If you remove that entry point for people to study it and then further their own career, you will lose all of these people.”
‘Alternative options available to applicants’
A spokesperson for Dundee University said: “We have recently completed a review of our portfolio of taught postgraduate programmes and have withdrawn some courses in DJCAD for next year, partly due to low applicant numbers at this point in the recruitment cycle.
“Alternative options have been made available to all applicants, and we continue to offer a great deal of flexibility across a wide range of programmes as we look forward to fostering the work of the next generation of students.
“The alternative programmes offered provide modules and teaching that were already shared with the withdrawn programmes, and students will still have access to these and to the same resources – including studios, technical workshops, internships, and specialist staff.”
Conversation