Royal College of Art

The Royal College of Art (RCA) is the world's leading specialist postgraduate university for art and design, located in London, United Kingdom. Established in 1837 as the Government School of Design at Somerset House, it moved to South Kensington and was rechristened the National Art Training School before becoming the Royal College of Art in 1896. In 1967 the College was granted a Royal Charter, endowing it with university status and the power to grant its own degrees. The RCA has held the #1 ranking in the world for Art & Design by QS World Rankings by Subject for 12 consecutive years. It is a small, entirely postgraduate institution with two London campuses: Kensington (Kensington Gore, SW7) and Battersea. Programmes are offered across three Schools — School of Architecture, School of Arts & Humanities, and School of Communication & Design — spanning taught Master's degrees (MA, MArch, MDes, MEd, MFA, MRes), a Graduate Diploma Art & Design pre-Master's programme, and research degrees (MPhil, PhD). The RCA has a vibrant research culture with multiple research centres including the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Intelligent Mobility Design Centre, and RCA Robotics Laboratory. The College receives a UK Government subsidy enabling reduced Home fees for UK, Irish, and some EU students. It offers hundreds of scholarships annually, with many targeting financial hardship and social disadvantage. From September 2027, the RCA will jointly award undergraduate degrees with Norwich University of the Arts, delivered in Norwich. Alumni include David Hockney, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Tracey Emin, and many other internationally renowned artists and designers.