The current students at the UEA School of Music could be the last, if a recommendation to close it is accepted next month.

The UEA is facing difficult decisions about how best to prioritise its investments, and in a statement a spokesman said that the School of Music could not meet the scale of the demands now being made on universities.

A spokesman also said that the school's ability to earn research funding was of particular concern in the light of funding changes to universities.

A report looking at the future of the school also found that it would be difficult to increase the number of students within the school without the university diverting resources from, and possibly putting at risk, other disciplines.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Edward Acton, who commissioned the review into the school's future, said that putting other disciplines at risk was a step the UEA could not afford to take.

He said: 'What makes this position especially painful is the knowledge of the school's fine achievements, the quality and passion of its staff under successive leaders and the pride and affection of cohorts of alumni.'

A recommendation to stop offering music as an academic discipline at the UEA will be put to the governing council on November 9, with a final decision to be made on November 28.