At a time when every dollar spent on campus is scrutinised, I sometimes feel like Cassandra – sensing exactly what lies ahead but struggling to be believed. Yet the evidence is clear: cutting the arts and humanities is a short-sighted decision that undermines workforce readiness, innovation and the civic capacities societies rely on.
Humanities degrees in the US have declined by more than 20 per cent over the past decade, according to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences’ Humanities Indicators, and a growing number of institutions report considering programme reductions. Budget pressures are real. But eliminating these disciplines weakens the very skills employers demand, the capacity for collaboration that fuels discovery, and the human judgement needed in an increasingly automated world.
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Below, I outline why arts and humanities skills remain essential – and, importantly, how universities can cultivate them in practical, affordable ways.
1. Arts and humanities education prepares graduates for employment
Despite persistent myths, employment rates for humanities graduates are comparable to those of STEM graduates, as Humanities Indicators data shows. Early earnings differ but the salary gap narrows significantly mid-career, particularly for graduates who pursue further study – something humanities majors do at higher-than-average rates.
More important than earnings alone are the skills employers seek today. The most in-demand competencies – critical thinking, communication, professionalism, teamwork and adaptability – are core outcomes of arts and humanities education, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers Job Outlook Survey. Through embodied practice, theatre and visual arts faculty help students develop emotional intelligence, collaborative problem-solving and the ability to translate abstract concepts into tangible forms.
Practical ways universities can develop and highlight these skills
- Offer short courses or embed communication and storytelling modules in existing courses.
- Partner with employers on micro-internships and project-based collaborations.
- Use portfolio-style assessments that show evidence of skill mastery.
- Host arts-and-humanities-focused career workshops linking skills to job roles and industries.
These steps require coordination, not major spending – and they show students and parents that arts and humanities education leads to real outcomes.
2. Innovation depends on transdisciplinary collaboration
Breakthroughs often emerge at disciplinary intersections, where artists and humanists contribute essential skills in design, communication and ethical reasoning. Narrative and metaphor, for instance, are powerful tools in science communication. Stories help the public understand and trust complex scientific ideas, as highlighted by National Academies research. Engineers depend on designers and linguists and theatre-makers to create products people can use. Visual and performing artists bring expertise in spatial design, user experience and human interactions – skills that are important for all types of human-centred innovation. Historians and ethicists challenge assumptions that shape everything from artificial intelligence to public policy.
Practical steps universities can take
- Invite theatre and visual arts faculty to lead workshops for STEM students.
- Create artist-in-residence positions within engineering, science and business schools.
- Create transdisciplinary project studios that pair arts and humanities with STEM or business.
- Provide small grants for co-taught “arts + X” courses.
- Integrate ethics and interpretation modules into engineering, computing and biomedical programmes.
- Host cross-disciplinary showcase events where students present collaborative work.
These approaches help students practise collaboration – a skill now fundamental to most sectors of the economy.
3. Arts and humanities teach students to navigate complexity
Humanities disciplines strengthen the ability to interpret nuance, hold multiple perspectives and understand context – capacities increasingly vital in fields where data alone cannot provide answers. Medical professionals now recognise the importance of “narrative competence” for diagnosing and caring for patients; as Rita Charon’s research in narrative medicine shows, interpretive skill is not aesthetic indulgence but practical training.
In a world where information is abundant and contested, the ability to read closely, analyse arguments and evaluate sources is foundational. Humanities courses cultivate these habits through reading, discussion and creative practice. Theatre and performance studies offer powerful training in navigating complexity. Actors must simultaneously hold in mind character motivation, ensemble dynamics, audience connection and through line of action – managing many layers of meaning in real time. This practice-based approach develops the cognitive skills and improvisational thinking that professionals need when confronting an array of layered and complex situations.
Practical ways universities can build this capacity
- Incorporate case-based learning that includes ambiguity.
- Use theatre-based improvisation exercises to build adaptive thinking across disciplines.
- Use structured reflective writing across majors to build contextual awareness.
- Offer seminars jointly taught by faculty from different disciplines, modelling interpretive methods.
- Engage arts faculty to design experiential simulations for courses across disciplines.
These are low-cost, high-impact pedagogical choices.
4. AI and automation make humanities central to future readiness
As artificial intelligence reshapes work, it increase the value of human skills. The arts offer essential training in the human capacities – judgement, empathy and creativity – that machines cannot replicate.
Why must universities intentionally teach these skills? Because future graduates will be responsible not for doing what the algorithm can do but for asking the questions machines cannot conceive; recognising when data lacks context or corroboration; interpreting meaning when answers are uncertain; and making ethical judgements when technology affects people’s lives.
The arts provide irreplaceable training in these human capacities. Theatre artists understand embodied presence, tonal nuance and human interaction. Visual artists train students to see what data visualisation cannot capture. Musicians develop pattern recognition and collaborative timing that inform complex problem-solving. These disciplines don’t just complement technical training, they provide the interpretive foundation that makes technology humane and purposeful.
Practical ways universities can teach these abilities
- Require ethics and communication components in computing, engineering and business.
- Integrate “explain your reasoning” assessments into technical courses.
- Bring theatre faculty into leadership and professional development programmes to teach presence, persuasion and authentic communication.
- Pair humanities faculty with AI or data science faculty for joint modules.
- Partner arts faculty with computer science departments to explore AI’s creative limitations and ethical implications.
- Teach students to evaluate sources and identify bias in algorithmic information flows.
Cutting arts and humanities in an automated era erases the very skills students will need to guide and govern emerging technologies.
A connected case for the humanities
The four areas outlined above are not separate arguments. Together, they form the human infrastructure on which healthy economies and societies depend. The pandemic showed what happens when people lose practice in relational presence, careful reading, source evaluation and professional communication. The humanities help rebuild these capacities.
If you are an administrator weighing cuts, consider what long-term abilities your institution may be removing. If you are a parent advising a student, remember that industries hire for curiosity, communication and creativity as much as technical prowess. And if you are a student, do not shy away from intellectually demanding work. It could become your greatest professional advantage.
Humanities are not a luxury. They are essential infrastructure for the future we hope to build.
Patricia Raun is the alumni distinguished professor of theatre arts and founding director of the Center for Communicating Science at Virginia Tech.
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