The Royal College of Music is ranked first in the world for
Performing Arts in 2022 QS World University Rankings
RCM students rehearse at RCM’s Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall c. Phil Rowley Photography
The Royal College of Music has been named as the world’s leading institution for Performing Arts in the prestigious 2022 QS World University Rankings by Subject.
For the past six years, the world-famous London college has been ranked top in the UK and for four of those years also in Europe, but it is the first time it has ranked first in the world. The position has been held by The Juilliard School in New York since 2016, when this categorisation was first introduced.
The QS rankings measure the strength and quality of teaching, the quality and output of research activity, employability and the RCM’s international profile. Rankings are compiled from the opinions of academics and employers and from analysis of research output and impact.
Professor Colin Lawson, Director of the Royal College of Music, said:
“I am enormously proud of the entire RCM community. To be ranked as the global number one institution for performing arts reflects the dedicated work by the teaching staff, professors and professional services staff, all of whom work tirelessly to ensure that RCM students receive the best possible opportunities in an environment that closely mirrors the professional world. This result is testament to our ongoing commitment to our talented students who choose to study at this world-leading institution.”
In recent years the Royal College of Music has transformed its campus and the students’ learning environment, adding a new performance hall, a new performance studio, a new, large café and courtyard area and a new Museum.
The Royal College of Music nurtures gifted musicians from all over the world for international careers as performers, conductors and composers. Opened in 1883 by the then Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), the RCM has trained many of the most important figures in British and international music life, including composers Benjamin Britten, Rebecca Clarke, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Gustav and Imogen Holst, Anna Meredith, Michael Tippett, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Lord Lloyd Webber, Ralph Vaughan Williams; conductors including Sir Colin Davis, Sir Roger Norrington and Leopold Stokowski; singers including Sir Thomas Allen, Alfie Boe, Dame Sarah Connolly, Barry Douglas, Gerald Finley, Dame Gwyneth Jones and Dame Joan Sutherland; instrumentalists including Sir James Galway, John Lill, Alina Ibragimova, Dame Thea King, Gervase de Peyer, Trevor Pinnock and guitarist John Williams.
Musicians from the RCM are consistently at the forefront of the musical life of the UK and around the world as soloists, composers, orchestral performers, musical directors, arrangers, teachers, and artistic leaders.