RADA celebrates 25th anniversary with King’s College London

RADA is delighted to be celebrating 25 years of partnership with King’s College London, which started back in 1990 with the formation of a ground-breaking and unique course.

Principal of RADA at the time, Dr Oliver Neville, and Professor Katharine Worth at the University of London were the first instigators of the MA Text and Performance course – which combined theoretical and practical approaches to the study of drama. The course was then led by Deputy Principal (and eventual Principal) Nicholas Barter and former Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities at King’s, Professor Barry Ife, and continued to be run jointly by King’s and RADA until 2011.

Today, King’s College London validates all RADA’s undergraduate and postgraduate performance and text courses, as well as its pioneering Foundation Degree in Technical Theatre and Stage Management, and suite of seven postgraduate diplomas covering all areas of technical production. King’s guidance and support has enabled RADA to offer its world-leading courses as higher education courses which remain absolutely true to their professional roots without changing the vocational focus of the training.

“The partnership with King’s has been one of the most long-standing and successful of RADA’s 111 years” commented Director of RADA, Edward Kemp. “We always welcome the expertise and insight that our colleagues at King’s have brought to our work, enabling us over the last quarter of a century to develop new standards of rigour and reflection in our training.”

Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Humanities and King’s College London, Professor Russell Goulbourne added “I'm immensely proud of the long tradition of collaboration and mutual support between RADA and the Faculty of Arts & Humanities at King's. That tradition is founded on a shared purpose and vision, namely to enable our students to flourish through creative endeavour and, through studying other selves, to explore and express their own self.”

RADA is also currently celebrating successful results of the annual National Student Survey (NSS) 2015, with overall satisfaction across undergraduate courses standing at 96%.

As part of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama (CDD), RADA now ranks as part of the UK’s number one performing arts conservatoire – with overall student satisfaction up 2% from last year to 91%.