Royal College of Art Scholarships and Awards in London UK (Full Fee Scholarship)

The RCA is committed to celebrating diversity, eliminating discrimination and promoting equality of opportunity to all.

The College believes it is vital to provide visible pathways of access to study across our programmes for those suffering financial hardship and for those from under-represented groups.

In 2021, the RCA gave £500,000 from its own operating surplus to be assigned to support fees for individuals from under-represented communities, prioritising Black and African diaspora British applicants and/or including those facing significant financial hardship. Information about the student support fund for the 2022/23 academic year will be released soon.

Alongside this, through the support of generous individuals, charitable trusts and foundations and corporate supporters, the RCA is proud to offer a number of named scholarships. Availability of named scholarships is limited and almost all are restricted to certain MA programmes. Please see below the list of available scholarships*.

The majority of named scholarships are offered in the first round of MA programme applications. We strongly recommend you apply for your course by the first application round deadline of 1 December 2021 in order to be considered for a scholarship.

Awarding of funding

Eligible students for RCA student support funding and named scholarships will be identified from submitted applications received in the first application round. They will then be contacted by the College asking them to submit an application for identified funding opportunities.

Scholarships are awarded based on the following criteria:

• the strength of your RCA application (initial shortlisting)
• financial need (scholarship application)
• specific named scholarship criteria or fee status
• motivation and potential for leadership (scholarship application); and
• portfolio strength.

Eligibility

Students must hold an offer to study on a full-time taught master’s degree at the RCA.

Important information

• Scholarships are awarded for a specific programme and entry point and cannot be deferred without consent from the academic programme and scholarships panel.
• No correspondence will be entered into regarding the reasons for their decision.
• No appeal is allowed, as once scholarships are awarded, all available funds have been committed.
• If successful, the scholarship recipient must meet the terms and conditions of the award in order to continue to receive the scholarship for the duration of the study.
• Students will need to demonstrate financial need at the time of applying for scholarships looking to provide support to students experiencing financial hardship.
• Scholarship recipients will be required to sign a scholarship agreement upon selection to confirm their funding.

Additional Support

Scholarships are extremely competitive and limited in number, so we recommend you also look into external funding options too and apply for other sources of funding available.

Find out more

For more information, please contact the Scholarships & Awards team in the Student Support office: scholarships@rca.ac.uk.

RCA Open Days provide an opportunity to hear more about funding. Visit Open Days to find out when the next Open Day is and how to register to attend.

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