Students and staff fight to save university’s costume design course

Students and staff are campaigning against plans to cut craft courses at Edinburgh College of Art.

Actors Alan Cumming and Hugh Bonneville are among more than 16,000 who’ve signed a petition calling for three undergraduate programmes to be reinstated.

The campaign has also been backed by scores of Edinburgh College of Art alumni, including Anna Robbins, whose costume designs for Downton Abbey feature in an exhibition in the capital.

Other graduates have gone on to work on productions including Outlander, Game of Thrones and Bridgerton.

Arts chiefs have warned that scrapping the craft and design degrees will “hollow out” Scotland’s sector and could force future talent to pursue opportunities elsewhere.

‘It’s insulting to our craft’

Órla Ní Eadhra is a third-year performance costume student at Edinburgh College of Art and was a finalist on The Great British Sewing Bee in 2025.

After reaching the final last year, she was inspired to pursue a new passion.

She visited an exhibition at Dovecot Studios celebrating six decades of creativity across film, television and theatre to get a glimpse of what her future career could look like.

But at the start of the semester, she said she was shocked to discover the university planned to stop accepting new students onto her course.

“The timing of it was incredibly insulting to our morale. The tutors only found out a day or two beforehand, which is disrespectful to them, having put so many years into the course.”

The University of Edinburgh announced it will close around 90 of its degrees to new applicants in 2027 as part of £140m budget cuts, citing student demand and an “evolving” job market, sparking weeks of strike action.

The performance costume course is one of three undergraduate programmes facing closure alongside textiles and jewellery/silversmithing.

Instead, the course will be offered as a 20-credit elective within a broader fashion degree.

Órla said the amount of expertise they develop warrants a dedicated programme.

“I think it’s an insult to costume and fashion that the university is saying they should be bound together. It’s not something that can just be fit into one semester, like the university is proposing.

“It very much shows a lack of understanding and respect for what the course can deliver, especially within the Scottish scene.

“It’s a very important course for Scotland and the industry.

“The Scottishness is really important to the fabric of the course itself.”

She added: “My message to the university would be to try to remember culture is just as important as academia.

“The university is a charity, and it has an obligation to provide a range of courses and opportunities for young people. It needs to remember that.”

‘This course helped me achieve my dream as a working-class person’

Aleksandra graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 2021.

Since then, she’s gone on to work on productions including Outlander, I Swear and River City.

Growing up on a council estate in Glasgow and unable to afford tuition in England, she says she would not be where she is without her degree.

“This career has basically been a dream come true for me,” she said.

“As someone from a working-class background, this course helped me build the career I have now. I wouldn’t have that chance without the ECA.

“It makes me sad to think of students who might not have the same opportunity.”

Aleksandra said the course offers students the time and resources to learn the different aspects of costume design in a way she believes would not be possible through an elective.

She said the discipline involves a range of specialist skills, including set design, millinery, embroidery and textile manipulation.

“We need to keep these crafts alive. These are irreplaceable skills that you can’t rely on AI or computers to make or do.

“There’s a whole team behind what you see on stage and screen, the textiles that you wear, the jewellery you are gifted. You can’t replace that.”

‘This will hollow out Scotland’s crafts sector’

Irene Kernan, director of Craft Scotland, which supports makers and advocates for the sector, said the organisation was concerned about the impact of the changes.

Craft Scotland has accused university chiefs of “a lack of transparency” and claimed students and staff were not consulted over the decision.

It is calling for more information about how the decision was reached.

Irene said: “We hear of the damage this will do to Edinburgh and the university, but specifically to the hollowing out of the craft sector in Scotland.

“These graduates are industry-ready and entrepreneurial, and have the skills and the knowledge to start work without further training required.

“It reduces opportunities for talent to come through from the rest of Scotland. The opportunities for makers to start their careers here will have gone. It’s really concerning.

“Joining under one banner is not understanding what makes these courses so unique and special. These specialist skills can’t be learned through shorter elective courses.”

A spokesperson for the University of Edinburgh said decisions are guided by data and insights from academics and experts in the field.

They added that the University remains committed to art and design education, and that these subjects will continue to be represented within the wider curriculum.

A University of Edinburgh spokesperson said: “Design has changed significantly in recent years as developments in technology have reshaped professional practice. Skills development in both digital and traditional media is increasingly important for our students, and we must respond to these evolving needs while continuing to deliver high-quality education that remains relevant, resilient and sustainable.

“The closure of these programmes to new admissions does not in any way mean that we no longer value the discipline or the expertise associated with them.

“We remain committed to the strength and distinctiveness of these disciplines, as well as to the many other making and craft-based disciplines and approaches that we offer at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA). These subjects will continue to be represented within the wider curriculum, supported by ECA’s specialist academic and technical expertise and facilities, ensuring future students can continue to develop skills in these areas.

“We recognise the significant cultural and economic contribution of Scotland’s creative industries and remain committed to art and design education and to developing our academic provision in response to student demand and the evolving needs of the sector.”