Royal College of Music

The Royal College of Music was founded by royal charter in 1882 and sits in South Kensington, opposite the Royal Albert Hall. It teaches performance, composition and conducting. Its overseas BMus fee is GBP 31,300 a year, the highest published conservatoire figure here, against a home rate of GBP 9,790. Across a four-year degree that is roughly GBP 124,000 in tuition, before central London living costs that Imperial College London puts at GBP 15,000 to GBP 18,000 a year. The scale of the fee follows from the teaching model rather than from prestige pricing. Conservatoire instruction is one-to-one, and a student is paying for individual tuition from a principal study teacher. The College is also one of two institutions here to flag the proposed Government levy on overseas fees on its own schedule, which is a straighter warning than most give.