RCA is World’s Top University for Art & Design for the Fourth Year in Succession

The RCA leads the table of 200 of the world’s top programmes for the study of art and design, ranking ahead of Parsons The New School for Design, Rhode Island School of Design, MIT, Stanford, Politecnico di Milano and University of the Arts London.

This is the fourth consecutive year that the RCA has taken the top spot, and consolidates its position as the world’s most influential university of art and design.

The endorsement comes just weeks after the College received planning consent for the new Battersea South campus comprising a flagship building designed by renowned international architects Herzog & de Meuron, supported by government investment of £54 million.

The new state-of-the-art facilities in Battersea will provide space for teaching, research and business incubation, enabling the RCA to expand, positioning itself at the leading edge of the STEAM agenda, placing critical value on the catalysing power of the creative arts (A) alongside science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Dr Paul Thompson, Vice-Chancellor of the Royal College of Art, said: “It’s fantastic news that we are, for the fourth year running, recognised as the world’s top university for art and design, and credit must go to the incredible staff and students that we have here and the outstanding opportunities provided through the programmes, research and partnerships with industry. The QS subject rankings represent a resounding endorsement of British higher education, with Cambridge, Oxford, UCL Institute of Education, Sussex, Sheffield and Loughborough joining the RCA at the top tier of world-ranked universities."

The QS University Rankings assesses the best international universities based on three assessment areas: academic reputation, employer reputation and research impact. The rankings are based on the opinions of academics and employers.

In 2014 the RCA was recognised as the highest ranked specialist art and design university in the UK, in the UK-wide REF (Research Excellence Framework). 

ENDS

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About the RCA

Engaging in teaching and research, the Royal College of Art offers the degrees of MA, MRes, MPhil and PhD across the disciplines of applied art, architecture, fine art, design, communications and humanities. 

It offers 28 highly specialised programmes in Art & Design to over 2,000 Master’s and Doctoral students and more than 800 professionals interacting with them – including researchers, professors, art and design practitioners, along with advisers and distinguished visitors. 

The RCA’s London-based campus is spread across three sites - Kensington, Battersea and White City. The College recently received planning approval for a new flagship building at its Battersea campus which will enable it to continue to compete globally and attract the highest calibre students and future entrepreneurs. 

The new building is part of the most radical transformation in its 181-year history. The RCA is the world’s leading art and design university and prides itself on being a dynamic STEAM-focused postgraduate university (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics). 

http://www.rca.ac.uk 

About QS University Rankings

QS Quacquarelli Symonds have been compiling university rankings since 2004, when they published their inaugural QS World University Rankings.  Since then, QS’s rankings have grown to be the world’s most popular source of comparative data about university performance.  Their Subject rankings tables were visited over 30 million times in 2016, and their overall rankings tables over 54 million times.

The project has expanded to include 5 regional rankings, the QS Best Student Cities ranking, rankings by Subject Area, the QS High Education System Strength Ranking, and, most recently, the QS Graduate Employability Ranking.  QS’s research is featured by media outlets across the world, with over 46,000 media clippings related to QS published in 2016.