Royal College of Music ranked as top performing arts institution in Europe

The 2021 QS World University Rankings have been announced, with the Royal College of Music in London ranking second in the world and the top institution for performing arts in both the UK and Europe. This is the sixth consecutive year the Royal College has been placed first in the UK and the second consecutive year it has ranked top in Europe.

The Royal College of Music came second only to the Juilliard School in New York.

The UK performed well overall in the rankings, with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland coming in just behind the Royal College of Music, followed by the Royal Academy of Music. The University of Oxford was in joint 12th position, tied with Harvard University, and Cambridge University just behind with Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

The rankings are based predominantly on the academic reputation of the university or conservatoire, also taking into account considerations such as how well students are prepared for the employment market and the ratio of faculty members to students. Also evaluated for the rankings is the amount of research undertaken by faculty members and the ratio of international faculty members and students – institutions with a higher international population will be scored more generously.

The top 50 in the 2021 QS World University Rankings is listed in full below:

1. The Juilliard School
2. Royal College of Music
3. Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
4. Royal Academy of Music
5. Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse en Paris
6. New York University
7. Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien
8. Norwegian Academy of Music
9. Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
10. Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
11. University Mozarteum Salzburg
12. Harvard University (tied with University of Oxford)
13. University of Oxford (tied with Harvard University)
14. University of Cambridge
15. Guildhall School of Music and Drama
16. University of Rochester
17. Indiana University Bloomington
18. Royal Holloway University of London
19. The University of Melbourne
20. Royal College of Music in Stockholm
21. Yale University
22. Columbia University
23. The Royal Danish Academy of Music
24. University of California, Berkeley (tied with University of California, Los Angeles)
25. University of California, Los Angeles (tied with University of California, Berkeley)
26. Curtis Institute of Music
27. University of Huddersfield
28. University of Southern California
29. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
30. The University of Sydney
31. Universität der Künste Berlin
32. The Central Academy of Drama, China
33. The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
34. Moscow State Conservatory P.I. Tchaikovsky
35. Monash University
36. Korea National University of Arts
37. Stanford University
38. Queen Mary University of London
39. McGill University
40. National University of Singapore
41. Northwestern University
42. Goldsmiths, University of London
43. Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin
44. Royal Northern College of Music
45. UCSI University
46. University of Toronto
47. The University of Auckland
48. Conservatoire de Musique de Genève
49. The University of Warwick
50. Griffith University