Custom Executive Education

The RCA delivers senior-level custom executive education programmes for business, government, the public sector and universities globally.

The RCA is renowned for teaching and incubating real-world innovation and is recognised as the world’s leading university for Art and Design.

Every year, leading companies and organisations from around the world choose to work with the RCA on custom executive education programmes that address the strategic goals, unique challenges and opportunities of their organisation.

Our custom programmes are designed to address specific business challenges through the use of practical tools such as design thinking and people-centred innovation, with reference to real-world projects, experiences and case studies, while developing productive new networks among participants.

We use a ‘learning by-doing’ model that draws upon the ethos of the RCA studio context, an immersive space where interdisciplinary and creativity push the boundaries of innovation.

Developing a Custom Programme

In consultation with organisations, we can develop a tailored curriculum for a day, a week, or several weeks over the course of a year with interrelated projects.

Many of our existing open Executive Education and Short Courses can be adapted, combined or customised for the particular needs of an organisation. The courses are ideally suited for groups of 15 to 30 or more participants.

Courses may be delivered at one of the RCAs central London sites, at your premises or other venues in the UK and internationally.

During the enquiry stage, we will ask a series of questions to determine the ideal format. We would like to better understand:

your programme goals and objectives
specific topics or subjects to cover
target audience (size of cohort, executive level)
timing and duration (potential dates and frequency of delivery)
how it fits with broader development and strategic goals
location
potential budget for the custom programme (see open Executive Masterclasses for examples).

We will assess your needs, begin conversations with your team and follow with a written proposal.

Once an agreement has been signed, the RCA will assign a member of the RCA faculty team whose expertise align with your goals and objectives to lead the programme.

We will collaborate with you throughout the process to ensure that we design, develop and deliver tailored learning solutions that meet your specific needs. Following each programme, we capture participant feedback, conduct a client debriefing and refine content as needed for future programmes.

Please get in contact if you would like to discuss developing a custom programme:

Peter Christian, Head of Executive Education
Hattie Allen, Executive Education Coordinator

Example two-day course timetable (PDF).

Faculty Expertise

Each custom programme is delivered by a leading RCA faculty member whose subject-matter expertise aligns with your specific learning objectives and strategic goals.

Programmes focus on cutting-edge innovations and our key areas of expertise include:

We can leverage world-class design research and researchers, unrivalled design expertise and teaching, and the widest range of established disciplines to be found across the design spectrum. These span our Schools of Architecture, Arts & Humanities, Design and Communication.

Award winning research centres and incubators include the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, the Burberry Material Science Research Centre, the Intelligent Mobility Design Centre and InnovationRCA.

Our graduates lead and influence many of the world’s global businesses, including of Burberry, Kia Motors, Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley, Porsche and Samsung and Apple.

Client Testimonial

We have delivered courses worldwide in countries as diverse as Dubai, Finland, Norway, Hong Kong, Netherlands and Mexico.

Explore some our most recent case studies with businesses:

Explore some our most recent case studies with universities and the public sector:

'The RCA bears not only the tradition, but also delivers on excellence with its courses. When we are here we can feel here a great atmosphere of creativity and art...The value is to meet great Professors and learn from the great UK experiences and case studies.’
– Nathalie Labourdette Head of EBU Academy, September 2018

‘The presentations were international, focused, clear and full of impact in their delivery and design. What a privilege to study here at the RCA.’
– Bertelsmann delegate, November 2017

‘It’s changed our mindset, we learned how to generate ideas rapidly, prototype and present. It was stimulating and enjoyable meeting other people from our company with complementary skill-sets and a different outlook. The RCA gave us the confidence to implement our learning.’
– Fujitsu Hackathon delegate, 2016

Historic and Cultural Hub

On-site courses are taught at our central London Kensington campus, while courses can also be delivered at our Battersea and White City sites.

The RCA's historic Kensington campus is located in the 'Albertopolis' district of London, alongside the Victoria and Albert Museum and Imperial College, flanked by Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park – the largest green space in London – and next to the Royal Albert Hall.

Our state-of-the-art facilities and collaborative learning spaces, combined with our central London location, create an exciting environment that supports both personal and professional growth, deepens the learning, and maximises the impact.

We are 40 minutes from Heathrow airport.