Studying at the RA Schools
Find out more about the structure of the programme and the facilities at the Julia and Hans Rausing Campus in the heart of London.
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the RA Schools
Applications for 2025 are now closed.
Find out more about the application process.
About the programme
We do not charge tuition fees. Our students are never customers. The RA Schools supports artists of promise from all backgrounds.
Each cohort consists of 10 – 17 students. Every student has studio space to work and there is a high staff-to-student ratio.
Our three-year programme allows students to explore their practice in depth. It allows time to fail, to think through ideas, to try new approaches. This enables extraordinary creative breakthroughs to happen.
The transmission of art from generation to generation happens in our studios, workshops, lectures, tutorials, crits, library, bar and canteen. Students have access to a broad visiting faculty from across the country and around the world.
The RA Schools has been at the heart of the Royal Academy since its foundation. Students can move between the studio, the RA Archive, the RA Collection, the RA Library and our exhibitions.
The RA Schools is equipped with specialist workshop facilities staffed by expert tutors. We have recently completed a major renovation of our workshops and studio spaces.
Facilities
Our printmaking studios offer a range of equipment for the production of intaglio, relief and screen-printing techniques. The studios currently house etching presses, a Columbia press and a large format screen printing bed, all supported by the relevant processing equipment.
These include facilities for working in a range of 3D processes including wood, metal, casting, mouldmaking, soft sculpture and mixed media. Digital technology includes large format 3D printers, embroidery and sewing machines, a laser cutter, some table top 3D printers and small scale arduino equipment.
Our ceramics workshop is fitted with two large top loading kilns and a test kiln for smaller production. The workshop is supported by a potter’s wheel and drying area. We work with a variety of different approaches and processes, and stock a selection of different clays and glazes.
Our wood workshop is equipped with a large format wall saw, circular table saw, lathe, pillar drill, stretcher making facilities and a full range of hand and power tools.
The metal workshop includes welding equipment, guillotine, saws, folding and pipe bending machines and the supporting apparatus for large-scale production.
We support mould making, casting, carving and material approaches in plaster, jesmonite and clay.
We are supported by Epson with three large-format digital printers and a selection of smaller portable inkjet and laser printers. These can be used with a wide range of substrates, including various papers, canvas and vinyls. The workshop includes a number of Mac workstations, scanning equipment, a vinyl cutter, cutting matt, guillotine, and basic bookbinding equipment.
Available to students wishing to work with wet and experimental approaches to photographic production, the darkroom supports black-and-white analogue photographic works. This facility houses an enlarger, wet photographic processing equipment, UV LED exposure unit and plumbed processing tanks.
Green and blue screen facilities are available, alongside photographic, audio-visual and media presentation equipment which includes high-end DSLR cameras, HD video cameras, large format camera,VR and AR facilities, sound recording and video editing hardware, lighting, monitors, production backdrops and sound recorders. Our Mac Pro suite features a range of digital moving image and sound production software.
Books, exhibition catalogues, monographs, art magazine subscriptions and periodicals on international contemporary and historical art are all available on loan. Special library collections also include examples of early printed and illustrated books, and the RA’s permanent collection of paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings and photographs.
Whatever the nature of your practice, you will be allocated a dedicated, shared studio space working alongside your fellow students.
Bookable project spaces are available to facilitate short term work that may need more space or focus outside of your shared studio. A dedicated space is available for those needing a clean and versatile area for performance, photography, video, or audio work.
Parts of the programme
The structure of the programme
Exhibitions
Our Senior Lecturers and Workshop Tutors are all practising artists. Our visiting faculty include leading contemporary artists, and academics.
Our graduates go on to make significant cultural contributions, in the UK and around the world.
About the RA Schools
The RA Schools has been a key part of the Royal Academy since its foundation in 1769. We offer a full-time, three-year programme to 10–17 postgraduate students each year. We charge no fees.
Supporters
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