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Accessing your RCS IT Account

If you experience any problems with your username or password, please contact the IT Helpdesk at ITHelpdesk@rcs.ac.uk or submit a ticket at rcs.ac.uk/help

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Username & Email Format

When your RCS IT account was created, you should have automatically received an email containing your username and temporary password.

Student Accounts

For student accounts, your login format will be your student number followed by your first initial @ rcs.ac.uk, for example: 2600012345A@rcs.ac.uk

Staff Accounts

For staff accounts, your login format will be your first initial followed by your surname @ rcs.ac.uk, for example: BDylan@rcs.ac.uk

If your username is already taken, a number will be added to the end, e.g. BDylan1@rcs.ac.uk

Staff accounts will have an additional email address containing a dot. For example, the username is BDylan@rcs.ac.uk but the email address is B.Dylan@rcs.ac.uk

The email address with the dot is only for receiving emails and should not be used to login to any IT systems.

Logging In

To log in, please visit http://outlook.com/rcs.ac.uk and enter your username and temporary password.

If you are prompted to set up Microsoft Authenticator, please follow our guide to Multi-Factor Authentication

You will be asked to enter your temporary password and then create a new password. All passwords must contain at least 15 characters, although longer passwords are recommended.

If you need to change your password again in the future, you can do so at: https://passwordreset.microsoftonline.com/

Password Guidance

Passwords must include characters from at least 3 of the following 4 categories:

  • English uppercase letters (A–Z)
  • English lowercase letters (a–z)
  • Numbers (0–9)
  • Special characters such as $ ! @ &

Your password must not contain commonly used or easily guessed information such as:

  • Names of family members, pets, friends, or co-workers
  • The words “Royal Conservatoire of Scotland”, “RCS”, or any variation of these
  • Birthdays or other personal information such as addresses or phone numbers
  • Word or number patterns (for example: aabbccdd, 1234567)
  • Any of the above spelled backwards
  • Any of the above with numbers added before or after

Once your password has been changed, you should store it securely, for example in a password manager.