David Lammy, the Higher Education Minister, used a key speech today to launch a “defence” of the arts and humanities and their place in higher education.

Addressing the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, Mr Lammy argued that the arts and humanities were no less important than science and technology, adding that he wanted to move beyond the “sterility” of a “two cultures” debate.

“I want instead to affirm the fact that education in the arts and humanities, no less than in the sciences, is among the main factors that define British culture and British identity in the 21st century,” he said.

“It is an indispensable component of the glue that holds this country together and without which we cannot truly flourish.

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“In that sense, I want to advocate a truly liberal-arts education. I want to argue in favour of a modern take on the broad medieval conception of higher learning, in which the study of language or music should sit happily side by side with the study of maths or science.”

Mr Lammy’s comments came amid concerns about the creation of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which oversees universities and strongly emphasises the “economic value” of higher education.

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He acknowledged that “at present, and for entirely understandable reasons, we all tend to stress the economic arguments for higher education and the employment skills it confers”.

However, Mr Lammy added that it was “too easy” to move from that fact to seeing higher education as something divided between what is “useful” and what is not.

“All subjects are useful economically, socially, in their own right and, increasingly, in combination,” he said, adding that claims that some subjects were more “useful” than others were out of date.

While future jobs would not be created without the skills of arts and social science graduates as well as those of scientists and engineers, basing arguments about the value of these subjects on that missed “much that is really important”, he said.

Mr Lammy stressed that there was truth in the view that the arts are good for democracy because they foster critical thinking and debating skills.

In addition, the creative industries depend on them and they help to create “a sense of common culture”, he said.

The minister went on to say that higher education should be seen as part of the vanguard of social transformation thanks to the advent of more “enlightened” admissions policies and a greater emphasis on outreach.

The sector plays “a major role” in creating a common understanding of what distinguishes the just from the unjust, and gives people the tools to question what they’re told critically and make up their own minds on the basis of evidence, he said.

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Universities also have a responsibility to maintain the “delicate balance” between treating students as customers and citizens, and giving them the tools for work and for active participation in society.

Mr Lammy also claimed that the boundaries between academic disciplines were breaking down in an increasingly complex world, so new ways should be sought to encourage dialogue between different branches of knowledge.

“In that sense, I think we need to revert to where we started from. Art and science were never originally seen as separate. What was valued was the way of thinking, the critical approach and questioning mind,” he said.

The minister added that the Government has tried hard to encourage the arts and humanities, and cited increases in student numbers and research funding in support of his claim.

He concluded: “My defence of the arts and humanities and their place in liberal-arts education isn’t based mainly on their economic value or what prospects they can offer graduates – although both are substantial. The main importance of a liberal-arts approach lies in the fact that it is by its very essence democratic.

“It can’t exist without debate, contradiction, difference and the acceptance of difference, just as a healthy democratic society can’t exist without those things.”

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rebecca.attwood@tsleducation.com