The University College of Opera, Stockholm (UCOS) carries on a more than 200-year-old tradition, with roots going back to 1773, when King Gustaf III took the initiative to a programme of training for opera artists, linked to the Royal Theatre, which was founded the same year. Throughout most of the 18th and 19th centuries, the programme was connected to either the Stockholm Royal Theatre or the Royal Academy of Music. From 1913-1942 the programme came under the direct supervision of the Royal Theatre (Royal Opera). In 1942 a special class for opera began at the Academy of Music, with students participating in performances at the Royal Opera as choristers, extras or in minor roles. In accordance with a Government decision in 1968 opera training was transferred to a separate school, under the name of the National School of Musical Drama. This school opened as an independent academy of fine arts in September 1978, at which time it also changed its name, first to the Stockholm Academy of Music Drama and then to its present name, the University College of Opera, Stockholm, in 1986. Between the years of 1968 and 2003 the schooling was carried out in an old patrician house in Stockholm. Up until the late 1980s the school had access to the Allé Theatre in Stockholm, after which it was forced to rent space for a long time in temporary rehearsal and performance locations. In autumn 2003 UCOS moved into newly renovated premises on the campus of the Royal Institute of Technology. In the new premises UCOS has received its own studio theatre, with an orchestra pit, where concerts and student productions can be presented. Since 2014, UCOS, together with DOCH School of Dance and Circus and Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts, is part of the Stockholm University of the Arts (Uniarts).