Understandably, at the age of 17 or 18, secondary school students can feel uncertain about taking the next step. Some may know they want to continue their education, but don’t want to lock themselves into a linear path to employment when they haven’t yet explored their own preferences and capabilities.
With diverse career options, an emphasis on critical thinking and a chance to study topics of significant personal interest, an arts degree is a broad and flexible choice at third level, the value of which is often misunderstood.
Those that are drawn to more vocational programmes and the certainty of practical training for a specific field might see it as precarious. According to the Higher Education Authority, graduates in arts and humanities are the least likely to be employed nine months after completing their degree – employment stood at 64.5 per cent for 2023 arts graduates versus 80.2 per cent for graduates overall.
The converse of that is the choice and versatility that a degree in the arts affords you. Universities typically offer more than 20 subjects in an arts and humanities programme, some of which are familiar to students from second level, while others, such as philosophy, psychology and classics, will be new. Graduates in the field are more likely to pursue further study.
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Dr Sandra Joyce, executive dean of the faculty of arts, humanities and social sciences at the University of Limerick (UL), says arts students tend to thrive on their exposure to different subjects. This means they are ultimately more informed about their own interests and skill sets when it comes to embarking on a career down the line, she says.
“The space that you have and the skills that you develop as part of [the degree] are actually directly related to the workplace – many different types of workplaces,” says Joyce. “That’s not always something that students or parents see when they think of a bachelor of arts [BA degree].
“In UL, in terms of our BA, we are really conscious of addressing transferable skills. We’re working very closely with industry and enterprise. We have a transferable skills unit which is about training students and making sure they are aware that they have skills which are very important for many types of workplaces, including some of the big businesses and enterprises in this area.”
It’s also about the contribution that the arts make to society. Have we ever needed critical thinking more?
— Dr Sandra Joyce
Outside of career prospects, there are myriad reasons why so many feel drawn to the arts. The interdisciplinary nature of the programme – a degree that encompasses options as wide-ranging as languages, history, literature and politics – amounts to a well-rounded, extensive education.
Some of the transferable skills that Joyce mentions are both useful in industry and profoundly human. A focus on collaboration and cultural awareness fosters curious, empathetic students with an ability to think deeply and logically. Emerging from a Leaving Certificate curriculum that can be quite regimented and controlled, there is often a huge appetite for a different type of learning.
“It’s also about the contribution that the arts make to society,” Joyce says. “Have we ever needed critical thinking more? People who can analyse situations and communicate and collaborate – we really need these skills too.”
An academic administrator could point to a very long list of jobs that arts graduates go on to pursue. Among them are careers in psychology, teaching, law, journalism, marketing, urban planning, TV and film, politics and public relations. These are vocations but the journey to realising them can be less straightforward than other fields.
“It’s a real heady mix of so many different disciplines and areas,” says Joyce. “A student can be a little bit spoiled for choice, but I believe in choice. Especially at that age, in Ireland, people do sometimes embark on very direct degrees in particular areas. That’s brilliant but I can see the benefit of an arts degree for a student who maybe hasn’t that focus and wants to explore things from a broader lens.”
There are rewards and challenges to a degree in the arts. Typically, the CAO points requirement makes the course an accessible one – last year at UL, applicants had to achieve a minimum of 316 points. The lower barrier to entry can be another positive, particularly for students whose learning ability isn’t best suited to the Leaving Cert format. With curiosity and ambition, this degree can lead to many different places.
