In the novel Never Let Me Go, why do the students and Hailsham's administrators attach such high value to creativity?

Yes, both the students and the administrators at Hailsham value creativity, but the two groups value creativity for completely different reasons.

Unlike the students themselves, the administrators know everything to do with Hailsham students and their existence, including the fact that they are all clones with a specific utilitarian purpose: the students are brought into the world only to be used for their healthy organs, and they will eventually die when they run out of...

Yes, both the students and the administrators at Hailsham value creativity, but the two groups value creativity for completely different reasons.

Unlike the students themselves, the administrators know everything to do with Hailsham students and their existence, including the fact that they are all clones with a specific utilitarian purpose: the students are brought into the world only to be used for their healthy organs, and they will eventually die when they run out of useful vital organs. The administrators seek to cultivate creativity in the students as a way to extend the experiment, as they believe that artistic ability is a measurable way to determine if the cloned students are fully human. All of the student artwork is an essential part of the body of cloning research that the administrators want to gather and analyze.

The students, on the other hand, value their own creativity for vastly different reasons. The students are unaware of the fact that they are clones and participants in an experiment. They see themselves as normal children who want positive attention, even love, from the adults around them. Creativity is one way to generate this attention, and the artists who exhibit the most interesting and promising artistic talents do indeed receive the most positive attention from the adults at Hailsham.

In conclusion, the students' simple desire to be loved and their childish determination to demonstrate creativity contrasts with the cold, hard rationale behind the administrators' scientific value of creativity.