EU students are deferring or cancelling their offers from UK design schools over Brexit with major implications for the future of the sector, according to London Design Festival co-founder and UAL governor Ben Evans.
Evans said that EU applicants who had been offered places at the University of the Arts London (UAL) accounted for 17 per cent of the intake of students, but that a number had cancelled or deferred their entry since the results of the EU Referendum.
"There's no material change to their circumstances at this point, but it is a point about them feeling less welcome in our city, and insecure about coming and taking up a three-year degree course in London," he said.
"That's a disaster, because the reputation and the prosperity of our sector depends on the steady intake of talent, particularly from the EU." Evans is the co-founder of London Design Festival and governor of the University of the Arts London ? one of the UK's largest providers of creative higher education
Access to creative talent at risk
UAL is an umbrella institution that includes many of London's best-known creative schools, including Central Saint Martins, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London College of Communication and London College of Fashion.
Alumni include designers like Terence Conran, James Dyson, Neville Brody, Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Hussein Chalayan, Mary Katrantzou, Roksanda Illincic and Ricardo Tisci.
Many are major employers of British designers a...