Battersea's Royal College of Art retains its 'best in the world' rating for tenth successive year

The RCA's number one worldwide ranking is based on a detailed international survey of academic and industry opinion carried out by the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024.

The latest results gave the College's reputation an overall score of 98.5, including 100 per cent for academic reputation and 85 per cent for employer reputation.

For the second consecutive year the RCA has been ranked in first place in the History of Art category, which incorporates programmes teaching the history of design. The RCA's History of Design MA and PhD programmes are delivered in partnership with the V&A Museum.

This quality assessment ranks the RCA ahead of major international universities including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rhode Island School of Design and Parsons School of Design in the US, and European institutions such as Aalto University in Finland and Politecnico di Milano in Italy.

The UK's strength in creative higher education directly feeds into the country's reputation as a leader for its innovative creative industries and as a global destination for culture, and supports the UK's creative economy, which contributes £126 billion annually in GVA and employs over 2.4 million people.