Course Timetables
The initial six-week skills-based module starts at the beginning of August. A series of six-week work-based placements then runs throughout the remainder of the course with evening classes and workshops running in parallel.
Core teaching hours are Monday-Friday 9am-6pm and students should expect to be involved in classes and other activities.
During production projects and placements, and especially during performance runs, there will be additional evening and weekend activities.
Teaching and Learning
Throughout your training, you will receive guidance and support from an established core team of staff at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. The Course Leader will be your personal tutor throughout your time at the College and you will attend individual progression tutorials twice termly as well as regular group tutorials.
Most of your time will be spent on work placements, internally at RWCMD and externally with industry partners. During these placements, you will be supervised and mentored by industry professionals.
Most seminars, classes and supervised project work will take place at Llanishen Studios. You will also be expected to complete project and production work independently at Llanishen Studios.
All of the College’s central services including Library Resources and Information Services will be available to students from the start of their course.
You will be invited to attend the induction events organised for all new students at the beginning of the main academic session in September.
The College can offer confidential and professional advice and a range of practical support to ensure that students are able to successfully commence studies at RWCMD, progress through their course, and graduate successfully.
We employ a dedicated Mental Well-Being Advisor, and provide free access to a confidential counselling service. Our Disability Advisor can provide assistance to students in applying for Disabled Students Allowance, arranging needs assessments, and developing Individual Support Plans, which may include additional specialist tutorial support for students with specific learning difficulties or additional needs.
The RWCMD Library holds more than 50,000 items including books, journals, newspapers, and audio visual materials. It is home to the UK’s largest lending collection of play sets in English. The Library also provides free access to online resources, including databases of thousands of drama texts and recordings of British theatre productions and behind-the-scenes documentaries.
Assessment and Feedback
At the core of the course are the production placements. These provide the best opportunity to assess your progression and readiness for your career. As part of your coursework and continuous assessment, you will be required to produce a personal objectives proposal at the beginning of each placement and a written self-evaluation at the end.
The criteria for assessment reflect the working practices of the professional environment, and the skills required of its practitioners.
Assessment of the Industry Skills module at Level 5 includes a 20-minute presentation and demonstration related to a particular area of interest to you.
You should consider your ongoing dialogue with tutors and supervisors during classes, projects and productions to be a critical part of the feedback you receive throughout the course, and the advice that will be most useful to you in your future working life.
You can expect to receive formal feedback, either written or verbal, within 20 days of the last day of a project or production.
Formal academic transcripts are published at the end of each academic year.
A copy of the rules and regulations for this course is available.