London, United Kingdom
DURATION
1 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
30 Jun 2025*
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2025
TUITION FEES
Request tuition fees
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* as the RCA received a high number of applications we encourage you to apply as early as possible to secure your place on your programme
* visit the RCA website to find out about fees for this programme as well as scholarship and funding opportunities
Key Summary
2025 Graduate Exhibition - 19 June-19 July.
Visit RCA2025, a series of exhibitions and events and activities showcasing the work of graduating RCA students across our London campuses.
Introduction
The spirit of Ceramics & Glass at the RCA springs from a belief in the transformative power of material thinking, research, and making to enable a new generation of artists and designers to enrich our world in imaginative and meaningful ways. Core to our philosophy is an exploration of how we can make ideas manifest through a tacit exploration of active materials and the generative potential of the process.
The program provides a creative interface where personal concerns and global perspectives intersect – questioning, examining, and responding to social, cultural, and material challenges. The areas of research of both staff and students are diverse, arise from the broad scope of the two disciplines, and inform what is taught in the program. Advances in technology are explored, while traditional methodologies are challenged to create new and unique approaches.
How you'll learn
The spectrum of inquiry in Ceramics & Glass is driven by live and studio projects – archives and collections are explored to understand, question, and reinterpret how histories and traditions of our disciplines inform contemporary culture – our relationship with the site, communities, and the built environment provide a framework for developing proposals – specialist tutor led group work brings a focus to areas such as metaphorical and phenomenological meaning within materiality – while design-led ideas are explored through object use and the systems of production that they emerge from.
Drawing on our diverse network of contacts within the subject specialisms, lectures, artist talks, and professional practice seminars from industry leaders, are combined with field trips and practical skill sessions to support independent learning. Strong studio culture is nurtured within dedicated facilities that offer opportunities for collaborative and cross-disciplinary approaches – all aimed at developing the next generation of leading Ceramics & Glass graduates.
Meet the RCA
We host a range of online and on-campus open days as well as recruitment events in cities around the world. These events can include 1-to-1 meetings and portfolio advice, informal chats, presentations, and sessions with staff, students, and alumni. Check the RCA event webpage for details of upcoming events.
Next on-campus open day: Saturday 20 January, 2024.
Admissions
Curriculum
Programme structure
The programme is delivered across three terms and includes a combination of programme, School and College units.
Term 1
Term 1 begins with the Interrogating Your Practice and Deconstructing Assumptions unit, which focuses on developing tools for deconstructing and critiquing your own practice and previous methods/approaches, as well as providing new contexts and directions for your work. Emphasis is placed on inviting new thoughts and progressive ideas through which to develop a ceramics and glass practice. During the unit, you will be offered a series of opportunities to explore techniques, collections, and environments alongside new modes of thinking aimed at challenging and expanding your current perception of Ceramics & Glass practice.
Across Terms 1 and 2, you will participate in AcrossRCA, the College-wide unit. See below for more details.
Term 2
Over the course of the Developing Methodologies unit, you will explore themes situated within wider material culture particularly those revealed by self-directed study via the lens of a Ceramics & Glass practice. Through experimentation and research, they will establish and develop the methodologies that will define your emerging practice. Developments and lines of enquiry formulated in Interrogating Your Practice and Deconstructing Assumptions, and through the Territory, will act as a background for the production of a body of work. You will be required to write your proposal and develop the summative project for the Independent Research Project by the middle of this unit.
In Term 2 all School of Arts & Humanities students will participate in the Urgency of the Arts, a School-wide unit. Through this unit, we ask: what do arts and humanities research and practice have to offer in our current socio-political climate? The unit introduces students to a diverse range of perspectives, approaches and practices relevant to contemporary practice and thought in the Arts & Humanities. The delivery is devised to help you identify and query your own practices and disciplinary assumptions through encounters with others and within the various practices undertaken by students in the School, and to raise awareness around contemporary concerns. You will be supported in understanding the ramifications of your own work and practice within a broad cultural context, and recognise its many potentially unintended readings and consequences.
Term 3
The Independent Research Project offers a point of synthesis through exhibition, critical reflection and portfolio production. The programme will support you in acquiring an advanced understanding of practice-led methodologies, critical reflection, production, and presentation. You will be supported in understanding practice-led methodologies, critical reflection, and presentation. The IRP supports you with the specific conceptual and material demands of exhibiting and sharing their work and uses this to prepare you for the diverse professional practices of contemporary art and design.
Program Tuition Fee
Rankings
The Royal College of Art has been ranked the number 1 university for art & design internationally for the 9th consecutive year, according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023 – the largest world-wide survey of academic and industry opinion.
Scholarships and Funding
Charlotte Fraser Scholarship
Supporting MA Ceramics & Glass students from the UK experiencing financial hardship
Eligible fee status: UK fee status
Value: Full tuition fee scholarship valued at £15,000
Griffin Scholarship
Supporting MA Ceramics & Glass students from the UK experiencing financial hardship
Eligible fee status:
- UK fee status only
- Demonstrable financial need
Value: Full tuition fee scholarships valued at £15,000
Grocers' Bursary
Supporting MA Ceramics & Glass students from the UK
Eligible fee status: UK fee status
Value: Two tuition fee bursaries of £3,000 each
House of Fraser Bursary
Supporting students in any MA programme from the UK (Preferably Scottish nationals), experiencing financial hardship
Eligible fee status: UK fee status
Value: £10,000
Marit Rausing Scholarships in Ceramics & Glass
A Scholarship supporting UK Ceramics & Glass students with financial hardship.
Eligible fee status:
- UK fee status only
- Financial need
Value: Six scholarships (three ceramics, three glass) valued at £35,000 each
Sir Alistair and Lady Pilkington Bursary
Supporting one MA Ceramics & Glass student from the UK, experiencing financial hardship
Eligible fee status:
- UK fee status
- Enrolled full time
- Demonstrating financial need
Value: One tuition fee bursary of £10,000
Sir Frank Bowling Scholarships
The Scholarship supports 21 UK MA, MRes and PhD students every year from across all RCA MA, MRes and PhD disciplines.
Eligible fee status: UK fee status
Value: £21,000
The Tony Snowdon Scholarship
Applicants must make an application via the application portal on the Snowdon Trust website from Jan 2023: https://www.snowdontrust.org/scholarships
Funding Categories: Financial hardship, Students with a diagnosed physical or sensory disability
Eligible fee status: Any
Value: Up to £15,000 in tuition fees + £15,000 maintenance support
Sir Eduardo Paolozzi Bursary
Eligible fee status: Any
Value: Two tuition fee bursaries of £2,000 each