The RCA was founded in Somerset House in 1837 as the Government School of Design or Metropolitan School of Design. Richard Burchett became head of the school in 1852. In 1853 it was expanded and moved to Marlborough House, and then, in 1853 or 1857, to South Kensington, on the same site as the South Kensington Museum. It was renamed the Normal Training School of Art in 1857 and the National Art Training School in 1863. During the later 19th century it was primarily a teacher training college; pupils during this period included George Clausen, Christopher Dresser, Luke Fildes, Kate Greenaway and Gertrude Jekyll. In 1896 or 1897 the school received the name Royal College of Art, and the emphasis of teaching there shifted to the practice of art and design. Teaching of graphic design, industrial design and product design began in the mid-twentieth century. The school expanded further in the 1960s, and in 1967 it received a Royal Charter which gave it the status of an independent university with the power to grant its own degrees. In July 2020, the Royal College of Art launched its first-ever online graduate exhibition, .
Campuses
The RCA has three campuses, in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. The Darwin Building in Kensington Gore dates from the 1960s and is a Grade II listed building. It was designed by a team of RCA staff members, H. T. Cadbury-Brown, Hugh Casson and Robert Goodden. In 1991 the sculpture department moved to a converted factory across the river Thames in Battersea. In the early 2000s the college conceived a substantial second campus being created on the site, with a minibus service linking it to Kensington. Thus, after a successful redevelopment of the premises by Wright & Wright, the present Sculpture Building opened in January 2009. A masterplan was commissioned by Haworth Tompkins and phase 1 of their three-phase design was completed with the opening of the Sackler Building on 19 November 2009, to house the painting department. Its name commemorates a major gift by The Dr Mortimer and Theresa Sackler Foundation. The Dyson Building, named in honour of James Dyson, whose educational charity donated £5m to the development, was opened on 24 September 2012. It is the home for printmaking and photography, and contains an innovation wing where start-up designers can launch their businesses. The Woo Building was opened on 30 September 2015, completing the Battersea project. It is named in honour of Sir Po-Shing and Lady Helen Woo, who have funded scholarships at the RCA since the 1990s. It accommodates the Ceramics & Glass and Jewellery & Metal programmes. The building's anodised aluminium gates were designed by alumnus Max Lamb.
Courses
The RCA offers a Graduate Diploma pre-masters conversion programme, MA, MRes, MPhil and PhD degrees in twenty-eight subject areas, divided into four schools: architecture, arts & humanities, communication, and design. The history of design programme is in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum; there are two double MA/MSc programmes with Imperial College London. In addition to formal qualifications the RCA also offers Summer school and Executive education courses throughout the year. English for academic purposes courses are offered to applicants who need to improve their academic English ability to meet the College's entry requirements. In early 2019, the RCA announced the launch of its new GenerationRCA programme. GenerationRCA -among other initiatives- will also "inject science disciplines into the mix of creative disciplines traditionally on offer." The new programmes will include Environmental Architecture and Digital Direction; with future programmes centred on nano and soft robotics, computer science, and machine learning, material science and the circular economy.
Rankings
In 2020, the RCA was placed first in the art and design subject area in the QS World University Rankings published by Quacquarelli Symonds for the sixth year in a row, with an overall score of 98.9/100. In August 2015 it was ranked first on a list of master's courses in fashion by Business of Fashion, a fashion website. In April 2011 the RCA was ranked first on a list of UK graduate art schools compiled by Modern Painters magazine from a survey of professionals in the art world. In the Research Assessment Exercise of December 2008, 40% of the research output of the school received the highest assessment, the third-highest rating in the art and design subject area; over all subject areas only about fifty institutions received a higher rating.
