Dr Sarah Pinto, historian and Course Director for Bachelor of Arts at Deakin University, says degrees in the arts are favoured among prospective students, in part due to the flexibility and diversity that the degree offers.

But why study the arts in Europe as a study destination?

“Transferable skills are required across a range of different career professions – business, government, community sector, not-for-profits. There’s no limit to their value.” Dr Pinto says. The demand for transferable skills is forecast to increase from 53% in 2000 to 63% by 2030, and therefore a demand for graduates who studied the arts is on the rise.

Editors note: Due to Brexit, the information in this article may now be untrue for the United Kingdom. We’ll update this once we know more about the effects of Brexit on studying abroad.

Historical and multidisciplinary institutions

Many institutions across Europe, especially those in the arts, have a long-standing history in a variety of artistic disciplines. This includes fine art, design, music, architecture, dance, theatre, and more. Studying the arts in Europe would allow you to study in the birthplace of a lot of the great movements in these artistic disciplines. You can study classic opera in Italy where Lablanche sang his heart out, fine art in France where Monet was inspired, or Theatre in England where the bard was born. Gone are the days when students would be required to study at just one institution.

Multiple cultural experiences 

Programs through Creative Europe and the European Union (including ERASMUS+ and European Universities) allow for exchanges and enhanced experiences for students across cultures and between institutions. These programmes make it very easy to live across Europe and experience different areas of artistic interest and cultures. Imagine the depth and development of artistic understanding. You have the opportunity to study in many countries with the EU’s vision “in which learning, studying and doing research would not be hampered by borders”.

This European Education Area project, to be developed by 2025, aims to enable a new generation of Europeans to cooperate across languages, borders and disciplines.

Career opportunities

Europe is a hub for culture and the creative industries. So if you’re already thinking ahead to graduation, there are lots of career possibilities to consider. This is a strategic focus area for ELIA and it was the main focus of the NXT Project.

Employability for art students is on the rise, especially in Europe. Some of the world’s very best theatres, art galleries, museums, publishing houses and research projects are found in Europe. Studying at a European University would give you greater access to these career fields. That’s why ELIA is committed to making creative hubs. We make institutions more sustainable and facilitate their international exchange and collaboration in order to connect young artists with cultural and creative sectors and businesses.

Interested in applying to an art school in Europe? Check out ELIA’s member list and apply to an institution. Our network of multidisciplinary institutions has a collective history, industry connections, and a growing number of career possibilities.

Editor’s note: It was a pleasure working with ELIA. They worked tirelessly with me to ensure that this article was informative, insightful, and stayed true to their mission. Arts degrees are often put down for being “easy” or “unimportant”. But a world without the arts is a world without culture, without heritage and identity, and without history. A world without art degrees would certainly be rather dull.

Enjoyed this article? Why not check out our reasons to study art in France.