Tier 1 Exceptional Talent - Artists

Tier 1 - Exceptional Talent/ Promise - The Artistic Stats are In!

So I promised in my previous post about the visa, colloquially known as the Artist Visa, that I will be posting an update with some stats on the application success rates. Well, the results are in and they look something like this (see this link for downloadable version). Picture of the same is also below.

I suppose three things to note about the statistics at the outset:

1. That these results are only up to May 2010. There are several of applications which are currently being considered which will no doubt change these figures in the very near future, not to mention my own caseload of Tier 1 Talent/ Promise in the pipeline!
2. As mentioned in the previous post, besides the Arts Council, there are 4 other Designated Competent Bodies (DCB) who are also given their endorsement allocations. The figures posted on this blog only speaks for the Arts Council's figures. Separate FOI requests to the other bodies will certainly yield similar result (i.e. obtaining information) but one must first make the statutory request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
3. The endorsement allocation years start and end from April each year, so the figures from 2015 would mean application received from 6 April 2015 and onward.

So, it seems that years 2014 - 2015 saw the most number of applicants trying for endorsement under the exceptional talent category but the figure does not even reach 100 applicants. I'm no statistician, but given the number of art schools in the UK, and the foreign student portions of it at various levels ranging from the foundation to Ph D, I should think these numbers do not even come close to 50% of the all artist student population. Shame.

As for the Exceptional Talent guys, the most number applied were 39 in year 2012-2013. But a whopping 51.3% were endorsed. 

As at 10 May 2015, there are still 8 applications to be decided for Exceptional Talent while only 3 applications were ever received and are still being considered. There seems to be a consistent trend of an increase in the number of applications being received for the Exceptional Promise category but a fairly low success rate for these. Perhaps not so surprising given the high threshold of the 'exceptionality' of these talents and the the requirement to prove establishment of both international and national presence.

As for the rest, have a look for yourselves.  I mean, the figures themselves are not remarkable, I don't think, as statistics, but at least it gives a clearer picture of how may are applying and how many are approved. 

Take note.

That's all folks!