About the RNCM
The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is one of the world’s most progressive conservatoires.
Located on Manchester’s Oxford Road Corridor within the city’s Knowledge Quarter, we provide an exceptional education that propels students into careers as inspiring and versatile musicians, fully equipped for exciting futures both on and off stage.
With three major performance spaces onsite, the RNCM is also a vibrant live music venue, offering unparalleled opportunities for students to perform to public audiences and to work alongside professional musicians and visiting artists.
We are ranked in the top 10 for music in the QS World University Rankings and are rated Gold in all areas of the Teaching Excellence Framework. Our extensive collection of external endorsements also includes six Times Higher Education Awards, three Queen’s Anniversary Prizes, two Greater China Awards, two Heist Awards, and a Global Teaching Spotlight Award.
With innovation and creativity at our core, we are proud to be at the forefront of music education globally and to be a leading voice across the wider industry for music experimentation, research, and discovery.
Powering the Music of Tomorrow
The RNCM exists to educate and train musicians to the highest level in an environment that is musically and creatively stimulating and rich in opportunity. It is focused on nurturing and developing students’ capacity to innovate, to inspire others, and to be musical leaders of the future.
Our strategic plan, Powering the Music of Tomorrow, charts a 10-year strategy that is ambitious and exciting. We will respond with confidence to the high expectations we are setting ourselves, ensuring that outstanding financial management helps strengthen our future sustainability, extending our global reach and impact, and enhancing the contribution we make to social prosperity in the City of Manchester, the North West, and beyond.
Governance
History
The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) was established in 1973 as an amalgamation of two Manchester-based music Colleges (the Royal Manchester College of Music and the Northern School of Music), each with its own long and illustrious history. The institution occupies a single site just south of the centre of the City of Manchester, between The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University, both of which enjoy excellent relationships and collaborations with the RNCM.
Legal and Charitable Status
The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is an independent corporation, established as a Higher Education Corporation under the terms of the Education Reform Act 1988, and operating within the provisions of an Instrument of Government made by the Privy Council in May 1993 under the terms of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. As a recipient of substantial public funding and by virtue of its educational objectives, it is an exempt charity, with the Office for Students (OfS) acting as its Principal Regulator.
Governance Arrangements
The members of the HEC constitute the Board of Governors of the RNCM, the activities of which the Corporation has been established to conduct, and whose objects, powers and framework of governance are set out in its Articles of Government, the current version of which was approved by the Board of Governors (‘the Board’) in July 2011, and by the Privy Council in October 2011. The Board is also, in relation to the charitable activities of the RNCM, its Trustee Board. Members of the Board are therefore the Trustees of the RNCM, and of its two Trust Funds, each of which is a separate charity registered with the Charity Commission.
Public Value
The RNCM is aware of its responsibilities as a charity to act for the public benefit and has had due regard to the Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance. The Purpose of the RNCM, as set out in the Articles of Government, is ‘to educate and train musicians to the highest level in an environment that is both stimulating and rich in opportunity, for the benefit of individuals and society at large’. A link to the current Public Benefit Statement is provided alongside.
Access and Participation Plan
The Access and participation Plan sets out how the RNCM will improve equality of opportunity for students from disadvantaged backgrounds to access, succeed in, and progress from higher education.
Correspondence
The principal place of business and the address of the RNCM is:
Royal Northern College of Music
124 Oxford Road
Manchester
M13 9RD
Any enquiries regarding the charitable status of the RNCM should be directed in the first instance to the Clerk to the Board.
Financial Statements
View our most recent statements here:
Board of Governors
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Ravi Gupta
Governor
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Professor Linda Merrick CBE
Principal
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Professor Sir David Eastwood
Governor
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Professor Chris Haslam
Governor
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His Honour John Phillips CBE
Governor
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Hugh Rayment-Pickard MBE
Governor
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Kathryn Morley MBE
Governor
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Sam Rigby
Governor
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Georgina Robb
Governor
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Wendy Smith
Governor
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Colin Walklin
Governor
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Simon Webb
Governor
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Adam Croucher
Deputy Registrar & Head of Student Services
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Larry Goves
Head of School of Composition
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Dawn Edwards
Clerk to the Board and Director of Academic Governance
Partners and Networks
The RNCM has developed strong relationships and unique networks with orchestras, ensembles, and organisations worldwide.
As leaders of the innovative International Benchmarking Group (IBG) and Interplay, and the only UK member of the European Chamber Music Academy, we strive to enhance the professional and personal development of young musicians through exceptional collaboration and real-world experience.
RNCM students can also refine their career aspirations via a range of unrivalled professional and industry placements and side-by-side initiatives.
Manchester
Manchester has been a leading academic destination for 200 years, and today more than 100,000 national and international students call it home. The RNCM sits right at the heart of that community, on the Oxford Road Corridor – the busiest and best-connected university hub in the country – where our 950+ young musicians study and perform, and many also choose to live.
