Healthcare & Design

We welcome applications from a diverse range of disciplines into healthcare and design. Our reviewers have experience looking through work from many different fields ranging from art, design and innovation to healthcare, engineering, sciences, business and enterprise.

A portfolio can include a wide range of work, projects, constructions, concepts, experiments and research from professional and academic areas alongside hobbies and interests that best represent your skills and capabilities. We are interested in process and thinking as much as the end results.

Please avoid using portfolio templates and heavy backgrounds. We recommend creating a portfolio that promotes the individuality of your work, skills, projects and thinking processes. It is important that your own original work and projects are made clear in the portfolio.

Please submit a portfolio with no more than 30 pages as one single PDF file. When submitting group projects, please state your role and impact on the work.

If you are not from a design or creative industries background, you are welcome to submit a statement not greater than 1,000 words of your professional practice along with any images in PDF format instead of a portfolio.

Please provide a 300-word written personal statement that addresses the following points:

1. Introduce yourself, your interests and your motivations for applying to the Royal College of Art, and to this programme in particular.
2. Briefly summarise any educational background and professional experience to date that will support your application.
3. Tell us what you want to do in the future.

We ask that you upload a two-minute video recorded on your phone or laptop, speaking to us directly. High production qualities are not needed. We will review the work in your portfolio, so keep your video simple.

Your journey should explain your motivation for applying to the programme, what you hope to learn and achieve and how this will support a future career in healthcare design.

We recommend avoiding background music and to keep the focus on yourself. There is no need to present work as we will already have seen that in the portfolio. Ideally, do this as one take to avoid heavy editing. You are also welcome to discuss your ideas and motivation for the major project proposal.

If you are not a national of a majority English-speaking country you will need the equivalent of an IELTS Academic or UKVI score of 6.5 with a 6.0 in the Test of Written English (TWE) and at least 5.5 in other skills. Students achieving a grade of at least 6.0, with a grade of 5.5 in the Test of Written English, may be eligible to take the College’s English for Academic Purposes course to enable them to reach the required standard.

You are exempt from this requirement if you have received a 2.1 degree or above from a university in a majority English-speaking nation within the last five years.

If you need a Student Visa to study at the RCA, you will also need to meet the Home Office’s minimum requirements for entry clearance.

If you require a Student Visa (part-time route) for the MRes Healthcare & Design programme, you will have work restrictions and will not be allowed to work in the UK during your studies. If you are currently employed on a Tier 2 visa you can apply for the part-time MRes Healthcare & Design programme as long as you can continue to work for the same employer who is sponsoring you, otherwise you would need to switch to a Student Visa (part-time route) and would no longer be allowed to work in the UK.   

For more information please see Student Visa or contact our Student support team.