DipRCM, ARCM, GNSM

[pytheamateur]

Please could somebody tell me more about the above UK qualifications.  Are they still awarded now?  If they were old diplomas how do they compare withe the current ABRSM's diplomas?  e.g., is the DipRCM similar to the DipABRSM? 

I get the feeling that ARCM is more prestigious than an ATCL or ALCM, although A stands for Associate in the three cases.  Is this correct?

I think GNSM stands for Graduate of Northern School of Music (a college that now called the Royal Northern College of Music).  Can one say that someone with a GNSM is at a similar level to someone with an LRSM (given that LRSM is about the standard of a graduate from a conservatoire)?

Thanks in advance.

[pianoplayjl]

I reckon. A licentiate's standard has to meet at least those of a conservatorium.

[bleicher]

These are old diplomas which are no longer awarded, from a time when music colleges used to award graduate diplomas to its internal students rather than degrees. I think the ARCM is the level of a modern Licentiate diploma, even though it's called Associate. I don't know the level of the two others.

[pytheamateur]

Thanks.

[ds23geoff]

HI,
I joined this forum to add some info on this question.
I have a GNSM which, as you rightly say, was awarded by the Northern School of Music between the mid '60s and 1973 when the Northern School amalgamated with the Royal Manchester College of Music (RMCM) to create the new Royal Northern College of Music. (RNCM). Both colleges awarded Graduate diplomas which were of degree status and had to be ratified by a university. The Northern School's one, GNSM, being ratified by Salford University. I don't know which university ratified the GRMCM.
Students on the GNSM course were encouraged to take LRAM (Licenciate of the Royal Academy of Music) LTCL (Licentiate of the Trinity College of Music) and ARCM (Associate of the Royal College of Music) as external diplomas of those London colleges during the second year of the three-year course which gives you an idea of the relative standings of these diplomas.
I hope this helps,
Geoff