As MA students, the Programme encourages students to pursue a personal line of inquiry during their time here. First-year students work on a live project in term one, and a studio project in terms two and three that also forms the basis for the Technical Studies course. The first-year projects respond to the Architectural Design Studio (ADS) thematic through their own brief developed out of their research, but within a defined scope established by the ADS tutors. Throughout the term tutors provide support and criticism as the projects develop.

The RCA provides a unique environment for postgraduate art and design students to reflect upon their own practice, and to engage with students from their own and other disciplines. The role of Critical & Historical Studies (CHS) is to support the studio programs in enabling these critical engagements to take place. The courses offered by CHS to first-year, studio-based MA students propose an intellectual framework within which they can begin to establish a coherent relationship between theory and practice.

In the autumn and spring terms, there are a series of College-wide seminars and lectures. The autumn term series will relate to your particular discipline, whereas the spring term series will be more broad-based and cross-disciplinary in nature.