History, Affiliations and Rankings

The Royal College of Art started life in 1837 as the Government School of Design. Granted a Royal Charter and university status in 1967. In its early days, the RCA was dominated by a distinctive version of the Arts and Crafts philosophy. However, by the early 1900s, that atmosphere changed. The RCA was the birthplace of The New Sculpture movement in Britain and continued to be a major centre of influence in the new century, with students including such luminaries as Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore. The Royal College of Art (RCA) is ranked the number 1 university for art & design internationally for the sixth consecutive year according to the QS World University Rankings by subject 2020 – the largest worldwide survey of academic and industry opinion. 

Infrastructure, Campuses and Courses

Royal College of Art has its campuses located in the historic capital city of London, a vibrant cultural centre with an international outlook. The three campuses are South Kensington Campus, Battersea Campus and White City Campus. Royal College of Art has five research centres - The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Intelligent Mobility Design Centre, Materials Science Research Centre, Computer Science Research Centre and RCA Robotics Laboratory.

Royal College of Art is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. Apart from gaining global recognition for Arts and Design, RCA also caters to subjects like Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics. It offers over 30+ postgraduate programs. The innovative teaching styles are delivered by a professional faculty who help students gain theoretical and practical exposure.

Royal College of Art also offers short courses that include senior-level executive masterclasses, summer courses and custom executive education programs for businesses and organizations.

Accomplishments and Alumni

The College prides itself on its ability to recruit the very best researchers and practitioners to join the academic staff, and it remains essential to the unique quality of teaching and research that it continues to attract and retain world-leading academic staff as well as inspirational practising artists and designers and a large number of highly specialized technicians.  

The notable alumni from Royal College of Art include but are not limited to -  film directors Tony and Ridley Scott, writer Travis Jeppesen, designers Thomas Heatherwick and architect Sir David Adjaye, a prominent member of the suffragette movement Sylvia Pankhurst, the musician Ian Dury and the actor Alan Rickman.

Student Diversity and Visiting Companies

Royal College of Art has over 2,300 students enrolled in Graduate programs, out of which 63% of the students are female. Further, there are 450 permanent academics, with over 1000 visiting faculty members. The RCA is committed to celebrating diversity, eliminating discrimination and promoting equality of opportunity. The top companies to hire graduates from Royal College of Art include but are not limited to the University of the Arts, London, University for the Creative Arts, Kingston University, Google, Samsung Electronics and Burberry.