Executive Education
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Online and in person executive masterclasses providing critical business skills, covering topics such as design thinking, creative leadership, entrepreneurship and service design.
Upcoming courses
Creative Leadership (on campus)
10 & 11 April 2025 - BOOK NOW
"Empathy is increasingly seen as the most important leadership quality. But what other values sit beside it and activate it? New research from the Royal College of Art shows how. You have worked on your business. Have you worked on yourself?"
Rama Gheerawo, Course Leader and Director of the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design
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Service Design Masterclass (online)
24, 25, 28 & 29 April 2025 - BOOK NOW
"Service Design is transforming organisations across the globe. The RCA is at the centre of a new generation of user-centred, system-smart and delivery-focused talent. This is an opportunity to understand how to apply service design thinking into the heart of your organisation."
Dr Nicolas Rebolledo Bustamante, Course Leader, Service Design Masterclass
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Design Thinking & Innovation in Practice (on campus)
15 & 16 May 2025 - BOOK NOW
"We want people to come away from our executive education courses with achievable insights and a critical path to making change in their organisations and to their own individual working lives."
Adrian and Clara Gaggero Westaway, Course Leaders, Design Thinking & Innovation in Practice
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Building a Globally Successful Creative Business (on campus)
New dates to be announced soon
"Post-Covid, creative businesses need to rebuild, reimagine themselves and find new global markets. This new short course is an unmissable three days to meet, talk and learn from those who have built businesses and institutions, knitted together a tight and effective team and found markets from Europe, the Middle-East and China."
Philip Dodd, Course Leader and Chairman of Made in China (UK) Ltd
Futures dates to be announced:
Creative Strategies for the Future of Work (online)
"Everyone is trying to figure out how to make the new hybrid work model a success. But are organisations and individuals trying to adapt to new ways of working using old ways of thinking? This masterclass will change your perspective and help you bring fresh ideas to future strategy. It is a unique partnership between the Royal College of Art, a world-renowned hub of creativity, and WORKTECH Academy, the global knowledge network. Be part of it!"
Professor Emeritus Jeremy Myerson, Course Leader and Director of WORKTECH Academy
Our Executive Education Masterclasses can be tailored and adapted for business, government, the public sector and universities globally. Learn more about Custom Executive Education with the RCA.
“The Design Thinking & Innovation in Practice course at the Royal College of Art was a diverse and transformative experience. It offered a well-rounded approach, blending theory with real-world applications. The course was truly inspiring, pushing me to think creatively and explore innovative solutions. I left with practical insights and tools that I can apply directly to my work, making it an invaluable experience.”
“I enrolled in this course to explore whether pursuing a Master’s in Service Design at RCA was the right path for me. It not only confirmed my interest but also deepened my passion for service design. The experience reassured me that this is the field where I can thrive and make an impact.”
“Excellently curated days with varied speakers. Surprisingly experienced, diverse and talented classmates.”
“Insightful, practical and fun. This course provided me with the basis to take design thinking into my everyday practices and bring new ideas to my clients. From the course leader to the other attendees everyone brought ideas to the table and worked together to build some amazing outputs.”
“As a designer, I can see the value in creativity in my daily work, however, creativity is not always valued amongst senior leadership at my company. The Creative Leadership course gave me the tools and knowledge to push for that to happen.”
“Great experience that allowed us to have a personal conversation with culture and art leaders and gave us an understanding of the full creative value chain.”
Register your interest for our Executive Education Masterclasses.
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About Executive Education
Past courses
Past courses
Co-Designing Innovation
Human-Centred Design for Intelligent Mobility
Download the RCA Executive Education Brochure 2024-25.
Our Executive Education Masterclasses can be tailored and adapted for business, government, the public sector and universities globally. Learn more about Custom Executive Education with the RCA.
Key benefits
- World-class professional and personal development
- Advanced level lectures and seminars by RCA academic faculty who teach on the postgraduate degree programmes
- Notable guest speakers and professional practitioners connected to industry
- Real time interaction with the course leaders to exchange ideas and receive feedback
- Learn about the RCA's most recent case studies and practices
- Opportunity to collaborate and connect with an international network of peers
- Business critical skills essential for the twenty-first century
- Certificate of achievement on completion.
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs 2023 report finds analytical thinking, creative thinking and AI and big data will be top in-demand skills by 2027.
"There's more of a focus and an interest in having people with analytical thinking, people with creativity. But it's also become very important to have leadership skills and to have social influence, and the ability to work with other people. The traits that make us human, make us able to relate with each other and to get innovative, creative things done in the workplace." Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director of the World Economic Forum.
Teaching and learning methodologies
- “Learning by doing” drawing upon the ethos of the RCA studio context, an immersive space where interdisciplinary and creativity push the boundaries of innovation
- Teaching via a mixture of case studies, lectures, and small group exercises, you’ll gain the strategies, tools, and insights to solve your most challenging problems
- Clear, simple digital technologies and flexible learning models to enable our participants to navigate e-learning with the guidance and support of our expert faculty.
On campus delivery
The RCA’s new state-of-the-art research and innovation Battersea campus was designed by Herzog & de Meuron and opened in 2022, marking the most significant campus development in the College’s history.
We run the majority of our in-person short courses from the top floor of the Rausing Research & Innovation Building – which boasts eight floors of dedicated independent and confidential research space for areas such as materials science, soft robotics, advanced manufacturing, intelligent mobility and AR/VR visualisation.
'The top floor spaces have been specifically designed for the delivery of Executive Education. It's an incredible space with windows all around and 360 degree views across London - simply put, it's a really lovely, immersive, inspiring place to learn.' Hattie Allen, Executive Education Manager
Covid-19
RCA Short Courses will continue to monitor the Covid-19 situation in the period up to the course dates. Our planning incorporates the latest UK Government guidance as well as consideration of how best to ensure a safe and inclusive learning space for participants and staff team. Our participants health, wellbeing and quality of experience while attending our on-campus courses is paramount to us.
Terms & conditions apply.
7th Floor Executive Education event spaces in Battersea, London:
Online delivery
Our Executive Education courses can be delivered via live online sessions in a virtual learning environment.
Participants:
- Engage with the RCA’s esteemed academics and facilitators via an audio & video conferencing service with simultaneous translation and captioning (where applicable)
- Access resources on the College's virtual learning platform
- Work with peers in breakout rooms using visual collaboration tools in real time
Join a network of global peers
Our courses are an opportunity to collaborate with a global network of peers.
We have been running these courses for more than 7 years and have attracted a high calibre individuals and organisations from over 60 countries.
Past participant industries include:
- Financial services, technology, manufacturing, healthcare, education, consulting, pharmaceuticals, advertising/marketing, museums, education, artists and designers.
Past companies include:
- Adidas, AstraZeneca, BAA plc, BBC, Bertelsmann, Deloitte, Dentsu, European Broadcasting Union, Facebook, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, GlaxoSmithKline, Google, HSBC, Hong Kong Civil Service Bureau, IBM, ITOCHU, J.P. Morgan, McKinsey & Company, Medronic, Panasonic, PwC, Samsung, Sharjah Art Foundation, Singapore Airlines, Sony, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, and more.
Custom short courses and executive education
Our experts can develop custom executive education programmes for business, government, the public sector and universities globally.
Many of our existing open executive education and short courses can be adapted, combined or customised for the particular needs of an organisation. The courses are ideally suited for groups of 15 to 30 or more participants.
Find out more about Custom Executive Education and Short Courses here.
Contact us to discuss developing a custom programme:
- Peter Christian, Head of Executive Education
- Hattie Allen, Executive Education Manager
More opportunities to study at the RCA
Contact us
Get in touch with Jo Chounta if you'd like to find out more about this or any of our other short courses.
short-courses@rca.ac.uk
