Following an inspection by the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) in 2004 the quality of the college's teaching was graded as "outstanding", and in 2005 RNC was one of only eight colleges in the UK to be awarded Learning and Skills Beacon Status. It is the only college for visually impaired students to have Beacon status, which is only given to educational establishments which have received a first-class Ofsted inspection report. RNC was again praised by Ofsted in 2009 for its continued good progress when Inspectors graded the college as "outstanding" across all six areas inspected and said it had gained ground since its last inspection in 2006.