Information for Teachers & Advisors
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Welcome to the dedicated space on the RCS website for teaching professionals. You’ll find information and resources about how to get involved with RCS as an educator; both to help your students experience and apply to RCS, and for ways you may wish to take advantage of our postgraduate and short course offerings. To hear more about any of the opportunities mentioned, please join our educators mailing list.
If we can help with anything else, you can get in touch by emailing hello@rcs.ac.uk
About Us
Established in 1847, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is a global leader in performing arts education and one of only a few institutions worldwide to offer degree programmes across all the performing and production arts. We offer undergraduate degree programmes across Drama, Dance, Production, Film, Music, Education, and Community Arts.
Our distinctive learning environment, student performance opportunities and global reputation consistently place us among the world’s top ten performing arts education institutions.
Students at RCS train and work alongside award-winning faculty – made up of 1000+ tutors, lecturers, artists, technical and support staff – and visiting artists. We have partnerships at local, national and international levels that advance the experience and knowledge of students including with the BBC, all of Scotland’s national performing arts companies (such as the RSNO and National Theatre of Scotland), and Shakespeare’s Globe.
And when they graduate, our students make their mark all over the globe. Hollywood stars, cultural leaders, arts advocates, and so much more – RCS alumni can be found on cinema and TV screens, in concert halls and classrooms, and everywhere in between.
Notable alumni include actors Ncuti Gatwa, James McAvoy, Jack Lowden, Sam Heughan, Laura Donnelly, Alan Cumming and David Tennant; internationally acclaimed mezzo-sopranos Karen Cargill and Catriona Morison; multi-award-winning classical guitarist Sean Shibe; Mercury Prize-nominated jazz pianist Fergus McCreadie; Oscar-nominated 1917 screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns and Nicola Killean OBE, Scotland’s Children and Young People Commissioner.
Key Information for Scottish Applicants
| Most Scottish-domiciled undergraduate students will be eligible for SAAS funding to cover their RCS tuition fees
| Applications to RCS are made through UCAS Conservatoires or UCAS (depending on programme) and open in July each year
| Application deadlines are in October for music programmes and January for our other programmes
| Our Undergraduate programmes are auditioned, meaning applicants will need to attend at least one audition or interview as part of the application process
More information is available on our How to Apply and Scottish Funding pages. If you have any specific questions please feel free to get in touch with our recruitment and admissions team by emailing hello@rcs.ac.uk
Open Days & Visiting RCS
We run in-person, on-campus open days for our undergraduate programmes throughout May (School of Music) and October (School of Drama, Dance, Production, and Film) which allow prospective students to find out more about studying at RCS. We also run discovery sessions and online Q&A sessions throughout the year for some of our programmes.
We also offer tours weekly during term time, which give an inside look at the campus for anyone who’s interested but can’t make an open day. If you’d like to organise a bespoke tour or visit for your class or school, please get in touch with hello@rcs.ac.uk
Schools Outreach
We encourage prospective students to visit us wherever possible, so that they can experience the energy of the RCS campus and get firsthand insight into our facilities and teaching. However our student recruitment team also offer direct outreach with schools and colleges, subject to their availability/ability to travel.
This could take the form of a workshop, masterclass or ensemble class or our admissions team could visit to give an overview into our application and audition process. If this is something you’d be interested in for your school or college, please get in touch with our team by emailing hello@rcs.ac.uk
Fair Access
Fair Access at RCS is about ensuring that people from all backgrounds have the opportunity to study in performing or production arts education. Fair Access is specifically funded to promote and provide fairer access to Higher Education. The team prioritise working with people who are one or more of the following:
- Living in a SIMD1 postcode (visit the postcode checker on the Fair Access microsite)
- Care experienced
- Estranged from parents or carers
Fair Access provides a range of opportunities from taster sessions to more advanced activities in preparing for higher education courses, working with some of the best artists and teachers across the UK. We believe that the performing and production arts need voices from different backgrounds.
Junior Conservatoire & Summer Schools
We have a wide pre-Higher Education offering across RCS, including auditioned courses for students aged 11-18 as part of our Junior Conservatoire, and open access courses during Summer with our Summer Schools programme. We offer courses across all artforms and experience levels.
Additionally, in partnership with local authorities, our non-auditioned Music Centres also enable children and young people across Scotland to experience music education without having to travel to Glasgow.
Hear from our students
Join our Educators Mailing List
We’re looking to hear from teachers and educators across Scotland on how we can provide support and advice on RCS as a destination for young people, as both a place to supplement their primary and secondary education, as well as for undergraduate study.
To register for our mailing list, and to hear more about open days, short courses, summer schools, and the opportunities available for young people at Scotland’s national conservatoire, ranked in the global top 10 for performing arts education (QS Rankings 2024), please complete the form below.
You can unsubscribe from these emails at any time.