Royal College of Music

The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a world-renowned specialist music conservatoire situated at Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BS, opposite the Royal Albert Hall. Established in 1882 under a Royal Charter, the RCM has degree-awarding powers and offers undergraduate (BMus), taught postgraduate (MPerf, MComp, MMus, MSc, GradDip, ArtDip), and doctoral (PhD) programmes in music performance, composition, conducting, and performance science. The college admits students from more than 60 countries, creating a vibrant international community. It is consistently ranked No.1 globally for Performing Arts in the QS World University Rankings by Subject (2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025) and achieved the highest Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023. The RCM is also the top-ranked UK conservatoire in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 for music as a single subject. Around 50% of students receive some form of financial support through merit-based scholarships and need-based bursaries. The RCM's Creative Careers Centre provides career development support, and the Centre for Performance Science conducts internationally recognised research. The college hosts more than 500 events per year and operates the RCM Museum, which holds the earliest known guitar and other priceless instruments.