Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Overview

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is a conservatoire (place of study for the arts) of music theatre and dance based in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded from the 1845 Glasgow Educational Association, it became the first conservatoire in the UK to be granted degree-awarding powers in 1993. Today, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is the busiest performing arts venue in Scotland, with almost 1,000 students enrolled from over 50 different countries.

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland maintains a close relationship with the professions, which helps to ensure the continued vocational relevance of courses. Significantly, the Conservatoire employs a proportionately very high number of part-time teachers who are also active in the professions, thereby providing students with a direct and live link to those professions. In addition to the professional activities of part-time staff, many of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland's full-time staff are also distinguished practitioners in their own professional areas of expertise.

Services for International Students

The Conservatoire has Effective Learning Tutors who can assist students with language issues in their studies, as well as providing general study advice. More general student support is also available from the Student Union, who organise several activities for international students at the beginning of the year.

Ranking

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is ranked 13th in the country for the study of Music in the Guardian rankings and 36th in the Times. The 2014 Research Excellence Framework showed that more than two thirds of RCS research is classified as ‘world leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’, with the strongest areas being music and drama.

Accommodation

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland has an arrangement with Liberty House student accommodation that gives new students the opportunity to be accommodated in student accommodation in Glasgow, within walking distance of the Conservatoire. Non-studio apartment rooms are arranged in groups of 9 per flat with a shared kitchen.

Location

Situated on the banks of the River Clyde, Glasgow is Scotland's largest city. It is a hub for music and theatre, within five minutes walking distance of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (home of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and visited by major international orchestras) and the Theatre Royal (home of Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet). There are 12 theatres of varying sizes in Glasgow, including the renowned Citizens Theatre, Tron Theatre, the Arches and The Theatre Royal, leading to a huge number of actors, artists and musicians to take up residence in the city.

Glasgow is home to more than 35 museums and galleries, which include the Burrell Collection, the Hunterian, the Art Gallery & Museum at Kelvingrove, the People's Palace and the McLellan Galleries, while the city's Mitchell Library is the largest public reference library in Europe. Edinburgh is only 45 minutes away by train and London around five hours by train or an hour by air.

Alumni

• James McAvoy (Actor)
• Ian Richardson (Actor)
• Jack Bruce (Cream)
• John Hannah (Actor)
• David Tennant (Actor)