The Radcliffe Trust is supporting The Royal College of Art to offer scholarships ensuring that cost is not a barrier to accessing a world-class postgraduate education. The RCA seeks to create an inclusive and equitable work and study environment. Accessing postgraduate education is expensive and nearly 40% of RCA applicants are unable to accept offered places due to a lack of financial support.
With a grant from The Radcliffe Trust, the RCA was able to award a 2025/2026 Heritage & Craft Scholarship towards the tuition fees of Clare Haward, a student enrolled on an MA Painting programme.
The Painting MA programme supports students to develop a critically informed and professionally engaged painting practice through advanced research, creative production, effective communication, and engagement with exhibiting and presenting work to diverse audiences.
Receiving the scholarship made all the difference to me, I would not have been able to afford to attend without it… To be able to undertake an MA in Painting at the RCA was unthinkable to me in 2000, and I am proud that I have been able to achieve it… I have more confidence in my practice, in talking about my work, and feel more able to experiment… Thank you for your support, in particular supporting a mature student returning to formal education after many years. I feel that I have more resilience and confidence needed to sustain and justify my practice at an age when it sometimes feels easier to give up. I have new materials and methods to explore and look forward to seeing what happens next. ~ Clare Haward
The Radcliffe Trust has played a vital role in making possible the RCA’s ambitious vision for postgraduate art and design education, which widens student access to and participation in the RCA’s world-leading postgraduate training, by enabling the College to appeal to a wider socio-economic demographic, future-proofing the pipeline of talented, applied artists.
Island After Sassetta (oil on board), by Clare Haward
There Not There (oil on canvas), by Clare Haward