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Royal College of Art
Established	1837
Type	Public
Rector	Sir Christopher Frayling
Provost	Sir Terence Conran
Students	900
Location	London, England
Campus	Urban
Website	www.rca.ac.uk

The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a university in London, England, housed in the Darwin Building in Kensington Gore, South Kensington. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate art and design institution, offering the degrees of M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D.

The college was founded in 1837, and was then known as the Government School of Design. It became the National Art Training School in 1853, and in 1896 received the name The Royal College of Art. After 130 years in operation, the RCA was granted a Royal Charter in 1967, which gave it the status of an independent university with the power to grant its own degrees.

Its Royal Charter specifies that the objects of the College are “to advance learning, knowledge and professional competence particularly in the field of fine arts, in the principles and practice of art and design in their relation to industrial and commercial processes and social developments and other subjects relating thereto through teaching, research and collaboration with industry and commerce."

The average age of its postgraduate students, studying at Master’s and Doctoral levels, is twenty-six. Some come to the Royal College of Art direct from their undergraduate courses, others later in their careers as artists. According to the latest statistics on all graduate destinations from the Royal College of Art’s fine art courses between 1992 and 1996, from a total cohort of over 300 graduates an average of 93.9% gained work in directly related employment and at the right level. To qualify, they had to be professional, exhibiting artists.

The current enrolment tally measures roughly 900 students, all taking fine art, applied art, design, and communications courses.

The Rector of the RCA is the historian and critic Sir Christopher Frayling.

The Royal College of Art played a major role in the birth of the modern school of British sculpture in the 1920s, with students including Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, and in the development of Pop Art in the 1960s with students including Peter Blake and David Hockney.

The college also has an international reputation for its teaching in the fields of automotive design, photography, industrial design and interior design, fashion, ceramics and silversmithing. Degrees in the History of Design and Conservation are offered in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum, close to the college.

Also close by are the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Geographical Society, Royal College of Music, Imperial College and Hyde Park.

• Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, Duchess of Argyll
• Victor Ambrus, illustrator
• Frank Auerbach, painter
• Christopher Bailey (fashion designer), designer
• Cressida Bell, textile designer
• Peter Blake, painter
• Victor Burgin, 1986 Turner Prize nominee
• Ian Callum, Design Director (Jaguar cars)
• Moray Callum, automotive designer (Ford)
• Gillian Carnegie, 2005 Turner Prize nominee
• Benedict Carpenter, 2001 Jerwood Sculpture Prize winner
• Patrick Caulfield, 1987 Turner Prize nominee
• Betty Churcher, Director of the National Gallery of Australia from 1990 to 1997
• Ossie Clark, fashion designer
• Jake and Dinos Chapman, 2003 Turner Prize nominees
• Susie Cooper, ceramic designer
• Simon Cox, automotive designer (General Motors)
• Tony Cragg, 1988 Turner Prize winner
• Richard Deacon, 1987 Turner Prize winner
• Roger Dean, artist
• Len Deighton, historian and author
• Conrad Dressler, sculptor and potter
• James Dyson, vacuum cleaner designer
• Tracey Emin, 1999 Turner Prize nominee
• Dan Fern, designer and graphic artist
• Mary Gillick, sculptor
• Jim Haldane, artist and illustrator
• William Harbutt, sculptor and inventor of Plasticine
• Thomas Heatherwick, designer and sculptor
• Barbara Hepworth, sculptor
• Hilda Hewlett, pioneer aviator and aviation entrepreneur
• David Hockney, painter
• Albert Houthuesen, artist
• Peter Horbury, automotive designer (Ford)
• Laurence Housman, playwright
• Phil Janssen, graphic designer and animation director
• R. B. Kitaj, artist
• Edwin Lutyens, architect
• David Mach, 1988 Turner Prize nominee
• Jeremy Marre, film director
• Kenneth Martin, sculptor
• Mary Martin, sculptor
• David Mellor, cutler and industrial designer
• John W Mills, sculptor
• Henry Moore, sculptor
• Malcolm Morley, 1984 Turner Prize winner
• Alex Mowat, architect
• Chris Ofili, 1998 Turner Prize winner
• Michael Pinsky, artist
• Brothers Quay, stop-motion animators
• Ceri Richards, painter
• Bridget Riley, artist
• Sir Ridley Scott, film director (brother of Tony)
• Tony Scott, film director (brother of Ridley)
• Uday Shankar, choreographer
• Martin Smith, automotive designer (Ford)
• Peter Stevens, automotive designer
• Chris Svensson, car designer
• Storm Thorgerson, photographer and designer
• John Tunnard artist
• Charles Tunnicliffe, painter
• Sidney Tushingham, painter and etcher
• Lee Wagstaff, photographer performance artist
• Richard Wentworth, sculptor
• Alison Wilding, 1992 Turner Prize nominee
• David G.Croft, Television Director
• Joash Woodrow, painter
• Jon Wozencroft, graphic designer and cofounder of Touch Music
• Carey Young, 2003 Beck's Futures nominee
• Christopher Williams (Welsh Artist 1873-1934)
• Paul Wraith, Automotive Designer
• Quentin Blake, cartoonist, author and illustrator of Roald Dahl's books

• Royal College of Art website

Coordinates: 51°30′05″N, 0°10′44″W