Two creative specialists. One future-defining partnership.
Undergraduate degrees, jointly awarded by Norwich University of the Arts and the Royal College of Art
For over 180 years, Norwich University of the Arts and the Royal College of Art (RCA) have championed creativity as a force for change.
Now we’ve brought that shared spirit together to create a new kind of undergraduate experience: joint-awarded degrees that combine specialist, industry-led teaching with world-leading creative practice and a global outlook, giving the next generation of creatives the skills, perspective and confidence to go further.
About the partnership
From September 2027, students will be able to enrol on a range of undergraduate degrees jointly awarded by the RCA and Norwich University of the Arts.
The partnership creates a new model of creative higher education collaboration in the UK – strengthening academic quality, supporting regional growth, and reinforcing the UK’s global leadership in art and design education.
What Norwich University of the Arts will deliver
Norwich University of the Arts delivers student teaching and experience under this partnership. Norwich manages recruitment and admissions, and students study at the Norwich campus.
Students will be registered at Norwich and will access facilities and student support through Norwich.
What the RCA will deliver
The RCA will act as a joint awarding body. It will contribute to academic governance, quality assurance, and defined enhancement activity, reflecting its postgraduate, research-intensive character.
This may include participation in joint academic boards, programme review and academic enhancement sessions.
Across all three years of study, the RCA provides defined academic engagement and enhancement activities integrated with the curriculum. These activities complement Norwich’s teaching and assessment and form part of the planned student experience, rather than being separate optional extras.
What’s included is agreed year by year and communicated clearly to students so they always know what applies to them.
About the RCA
Founded in 1837, the RCA is the world’s largest postgraduate-only community of art and design students. It has been ranked number one in the world for a remarkable 12 consecutive years (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2015-2026).
Studying at the RCA is the starting point for UK and global creative leaders who want to make change and push the boundaries of their fields.
With more than 33,000 RCA alumni all over the world, the College’s graduates form a diverse international network of artists, designers, creators and innovators.
Every year RCA alumni are recognised as leaders in their disciplines, shaping our culture and world. The College’s award-winning graduate incubator, InnovationRCA has an outstanding track record of turning RCA ideas into successful, high-impact businesses, creating over 90 start-ups to date.
Around 2,500 students study at Graduate Diploma, MA, MFA, MDes, MArch, MRes, MEd, MPhil, and PhD level. The College creates an environment that champions exploration, collaboration and interdisciplinary learning – using art and design to reframe the possibilities of the humanities, technology, and ethics; and equipping graduates for new futures and opportunities.
It is a home for making, where people can create, reframe how we perceive the world, and bring joy to those who experience their work – whether using new technologies, or preserving heritage craft techniques.
Research is at the heart of the RCA’s impact. In active discussion with the world, the College brings interdisciplinary researchers and partners together in vital areas such as climate and sustainability, technology and society, and leads the field in practice-based research.
As a result, the RCA is ranked as one of the most research-intensive specialist art and design universities in the UK (under the Research Excellence Framework 2014 and 2021).
RCA alumni include such major figures as Henry Moore OM, Dame Barbara Hepworth, Bridget Riley, David Hockney OM, Sir Ridley Scott, Dame Zandra Rhodes, Sir Frank Bowling, Sir James Dyson OM, Hoor Al-Qasimi, Dame Tracey Emin, Kamala Ibrahim Ishaq, Erdem Moralıoğlu, Christopher Bailey, and Thomas Heatherwick.
They have won fifteen Baftas, five Turner Prizes, three Oscars, a Booker Prize and the Earthshot Prize; they designed the torch, cauldron and medallists podia at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
They are in senior design roles at the likes of Apple, Pentagram, IDEO, Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs, Lanvin, Jaguar Land Rover, Uniqlo, Aardman and McLaren.
There can only be 200 Royal Designers for Industry at one time – 45 of the current cohort are RCA alumni.
Need help? Chat to our friendly recruitment team
To book a place on an Open Day, or to find out more about how to apply for a course at Norwich University of the Arts, email us or give us a call.