Research by Business School argues for increased funding for ‘soft’ subjects

Research by a Professor at Warwick Business School has claimed that there is not enough funding for subjects like the Humanities and the Arts.

The underfunding of Arts and Humanities must be addressed if “innovation, growth and competitiveness in the community” are to move forward with the new generation of non-sciences students, claimed Professor Paul Stoneman of WBS.

The research – due to be released officially this March – criticises the government over its policy of focusing too much of its financial support for innovation in Science and Technology, as opposed to the Arts and the Humanities.

The studies concluded that “policy needs to be rebalanced to include the total of innovative activity and not just part.”

Professor Stoneman, who took his BA at Warwick, found that “soft innovation” (i.e. less scientific aspects of academic explorations) was very much disregarded, despite the fact that innovation in artistic subjects is equally important in the economy.

Indeed, with the current state of the financial system, the research’s discovery of ways to improve the failing economy has had much international recognition and agreement.

James Moran, a Republican member of America’s National Endowment for the Humanities, has in a similar vein told the US Government that there has “been a gross underfunding of the Humanities.”

Hasan Bakhshi, research director of arts and innovation at the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA), the source of funding for the research, felt that those responsible for innovation within the higher education sector should take care to analyse its role within industry to enable future funding and subsequent success.

Professor Stoneman added, “rather than just being a characteristic of a civilised society, investments in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities may also be seen to stand alongside Science and Technology as a source for innovation, growth and competitiveness in the economy.”