Academic Registrar

Founded in 1837, the Royal College of Art is the world’s oldest art and design university in continuous operation and today hosts the largest postgraduate community of art and design students globally. The RCA has been ranked the world’s number one art and design university for eleven consecutive years by the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025, reflecting the College’s unrivalled reputation for excellence and influence.

The College has grown from around a thousand students a decade ago to approximately 3,000 students today, studying at Graduate Diploma, MA, MRes, MPhil and PhD level, with new awards in development including MFA, MDes, and Professional Doctorate. As a highly selective postgraduate-only institution, the College attracts over 15,000 applications for 1,250 new places (2022/23) from around 80 countries, across more than 30 programmes of study.

In this context of growth and change, both for the RCA and the sector, the Academic Registry and Student Success functions together play a central role in the student’s relationship with the College from initial enquiry through to life as an alum. This shared responsibility encompasses the full student lifecycle: initial application and admission, enrolment and registration, progression and assessment, participation in Convocation, and continued engagement as graduates and lifelong ambassadors for the RCA. It also includes the proactive support, advice, and interventions that foster belonging, wellbeing, and personal and academic success, helping every student to make the most of their time at the College.

Reporting to the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education and Student Success, you will provide strategic and operational leadership across the entire student lifecycle, from application to graduation, ensuring seamless integration of Academic Registry and Student Success & Experience functions and an efficient, agile and responsive service. 

You must be able to demonstrate experience in a leadership role in an HE academic registry environment, evidence of process management and development, and significant experience and understanding of student records systems and data management. With a strong working knowledge of compliance requirements and UK HE policies, practices and academic regulations in relation to student administration, you will be able to translate strategy and policy into actions and operation and demonstrate commitment to service excellence.   Highly effective people management, setting standards for performance and culture, and interpersonal skills are pre-requisite.

For further information about this great opportunity please visit https://www.dixonwalter.co.uk/opportunities/rca-academic-registrar/ or contact our retained advisor, Mike Dixon at Dixon Walter at mike@dixonwalter.co.uk or on 07876751896.

The closing date for applications is Sunday 15 February 2026

Final stage selection will take place week commencing 9 March 2026

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