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Mr Vegas, who has a third-class honours degree in art and ceramics from Middlesex University, said he owed all his success to his student years.

Speaking at the ¡°What¡¯s the Point of Art School?¡± conference, hosted on 14 May by the University of the Arts London, he said: ¡°Going to art school saved me as a young man ¨C it sounds like a massive statement but it¡¯s absolutely true.¡±

Despite this, he does not believe that he would have followed the same path had the current fees system, which charges students up to ?9,000 a year, been in place, as the idea of taking on so much debt would have been too off-putting.

¡°There is no way on God¡¯s green earth that I would borrow the money now, and do the course that I did that changed my outlook for the rest of my life,¡± said Mr Vegas, whose real name is Michael Pennington.

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¡°[Art school] taught me to question politics ¨C everything that I see goes through a process because I was encouraged at art school to question.¡±

Students from wealthier background might not benefit from art school to the same extent, he added. ¡°The ones who are from the right backgrounds, who¡¯ve got the money to come to art school [now], don¡¯t need to question [things] because they¡¯ve got that fucking trust fund,¡± he said to a round of applause. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but they have.¡±

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He also hit out at the perception that art is only for the privileged, saying that if only a certain type of person could afford to go to art school, then the study of art would become an ¡°unnecessary thing that belongs to rich people who have too much time on their hands¡±.

¡°This is for everybody. Art is ours, but we¡¯re already up against so much within the common psyche - within society ¨C that says [studying art] is a waste of time,¡± he said.

chris.parr@tsleducation.com