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Tian Gao, Graduate Diploma
Meet the RCA in Cardiff, Birmingham, Edinburgh or Glasgow

Key details

Date

  • 28 October 2024

Read time

  • 2 minutes

* QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024: Art & Design

Discover our programmes

The Royal College of Art offers Graduate Diploma, Master's and MPhil/PhD programmes in the arts, design, communication, architecture and the humanities. Our students also come from a broad range of backgrounds including science, technology, engineering, social sciences, business and healthcare.

Programme finder

Upcoming events

Register for Open Days, Portfolio Q&A sessions, Campus Tours and the chance to meet the RCA globally and in the UK.

Meet the RCA in Brighton on 18 March

Join our campus tours on Friday 4 April

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Online Open Days and Portfolio Events

Join us online to meet with academic staff, admissions tutors and students to hear about our programmes, application advice and to have your questions answered.

Open events

Ready to join us?

Applications are now open for 2025 entry. The round 2 application deadline for Master’s and MPhil/PhD programmes is 26th March 2025, 12 noon GMT.

Apply now to secure your place. Group of architecture students in the studio

Graduate Diploma Art & Design

Applications for the Graduate Diploma Art & Design intake in May 2025 are open.  

Watch our open event recording to find out more.

Apply now for the Graduate Diploma Art & Design

Why choose the RCA?

Teaching and research expertise

The opportunity to learn from world-leading academic staff. We’re the only specialist art and design university where all of our permanent teaching and research staff are also research active and included in the RCA’s submissions to the UK Research Excellence Framework.

Renowned alumni

Our 28,000 alumni are leaders in their disciplines, making national and international headlines. Alumni include:

  • Hoor Al Qasimi
  • Hurvin Anderson RA
  • Christopher Bailey CBE
  • Sir Peter Blake
  • Sir Frank Bowling
  • Sir James Dyson OM
  • Dame Tracey Emin RA
  • Sir Anthony Finkelstein
  • Thomas Heatherwick RDI, CBE
  • Dame Barbara Hepworth
  • Lubaina Himid RA CBE
  • David Hockney OM
  • Kamala Ibrahim Ishaq
  • Asif Kapadia
  • Julian MacDonald OBE
  • Henry Moore OM
  • Erdem Moralioglu MBE
  • Morag Myerscough
  • Dame Magdalene Odundo
  • Chris Ofili CBE
  • Bridget Riley
  • Sir Ridley Scott
  • Philip Treacy OBE
  • Dame Zandra Rhodes

A diverse creative community

The RCA is the world’s largest postgraduate-only art and design university, representing an exciting talent base and opportunities to build your network and collaborate. An RCA student might be working in industry or the arts, a career-changer, or come straight from an undergraduate course. We typically welcome students from over 70 countries.

Interdisciplinary connections

Our College and School-wide projects, activities and challenges help our students find like-minded creatives to solve major global problems, grow their networks, or find future business partners. Find out more about AcrossRCA.

Build your career

Find out more about how the RCA can help move your career to the next level with our Graduate Careers Report.

Ready to take the next step?

Apply now to start in 2025

Life at the RCA

Over 185 years our alumni have defined the industries that they have joined, created and reshaped.

Discover where the RCA will take you

Our sites are located in the historic capital city of London, a vibrant cultural centre with an international outlook.

Explore our campuses or join a campus tour

The Royal College of Art provides the infrastructure, discipline-specific tooling and support for students to master the skills for their particular aesthetic and approach.

Explore our facilities

The Student Support Team offers advice, information and support to all RCA students and offer-holders.

Explore student support

The RCA is committed to celebrating diversity, eliminating discrimination and promoting equality of opportunity to all.

Explore funding

Gallery

  • Many postgraduate students at the RCA come from non-arts backgrounds

    Why an accountant, a scientist and a business consultant enrolled at art school

    Read more

    Three students reveal why they took a ‘leap of faith’ and left their jobs to pursue their artistic passions in photography, illustration and animation.

  • Badminton Club x Dora Grabkowska with Forster+Partners

    How Arts & Humanities MFA helps our students bring their art to real audiences

    Read more

    Every year our Arts & Humanities MFA students create collectives to work on a live public arts project with public organisations including art charities, local councils and architecture firms.

  • Service Design

    Meet the RCA alumni harnessing the power of Service Design

    Read more

    Four graduates of the RCA’s Service Design MA share the impact the programme has had on their careers.

  • Thursdays

    5 RCA artists join Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2024

    Read more

    Sara Osman, Danilo Zocatelli Cesco, Farzane Ghadyanloo, Tom Fairlamb and Yang Zou joined 35 New Contemporaries artists at KARST, Levinsky Gallery and MIRROR in Plymouth.

  • Rong Bao

    Meet our 2023 graduates a year after the RCA

    Read more

    RCA2024 showcased the work of graduating RCA students and the global impact our graduates have made across art and design.

Useful links

Find your path to joining the Royal College of Art

Application process

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Student in painting studio