To provide prospective students with opportunities to find out about the RCA experience and programmes we run a number of on-campus and online open daysas well as events in various countries around the world. You can find out about upcoming events or watch replays of past open days on theRCA website. The V&A/RCA MA History of Design draws on the exceptional resources and national and international networks of two world-leading centres of excellence for scholarship and creativity, the RCA and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). With a base at the RCA and dedicated programme rooms and library at the V&A, since its foundation in 1983, this pioneering programme has earned a worldwide reputation as the leading MA programme in the field. Our research-led teaching and experiential methods inspire and train future leaders in the field. We see the history of design as interdisciplinary and future-facing. We offer ground-breaking tools and approaches for studying the history and material culture of design in everyday life, across global geography from c. 1400 to the present. Our research and teaching range from the early modern to the contemporary, with particular expertise in the UK/Europe, North America and Asia, and in transnational and global connections. Our programme is strongly committed to inclusivity, decoloniality and social and environmental engagement. We combine scholarly excellence with risk-taking to forge histories of design and material culture that are public-facing, and experimental, as befits our location in the public museum and the art school. We use artefact analysis – of physical objects, digital matter, and spaces as well as services, interactions, policies, institutions and legal and technical systems – to reshape historical narratives and ask ambitious and relevant questions. We draw on our strong and distinctive track record of employing a global outlook, whether this means placing local histories in a comparative context or tracing global networks through material culture. How you'll learn Students develop advanced knowledge, skills and approaches from the perspective of design history. Teaching is organised to support students in fostering their own self-directed intellectual journey and professional development and identity. The syllabus incorporates unique opportunities for active interactions, learning experiences and tangible outcomes across the Arts & Humanities as taught and experienced at the RCA and the V&A. In addition to more conventional historical methods, our students produce innovative understandings of the cultural, societal and economic impacts of design through engagements and exchanges with emerging practitioners from across the RCA and leading museum professionals within the V&A. Programme structure: Full-time study The programme is delivered across three terms and includes a combination of programme, School and College units. Term 1 The Artefacts in History unit develops your fundamental skills for undertaking historical research through artefact analysis and your wider understanding of the purpose and significance of object-led research. It explores the analysis of different object types using core theoretical approaches and archival/primary resources and connects this to current debates and institutional frames for object-led research. Across Terms 1 and 2, you will participate in AcrossRCA, the College-wide unit. Term 2 In the Research in the History of Design and Material Culture, you will learn about approaches and methods for writing design histories, conceive an original and viable research project and locate it in relation to existing fields. You will explore how histories are written, engage with current debates and new directions in design history and material culture research, and produce your own dissertation research proposal, ready to move on to unit 3. In term 2 all School of Arts & Humanities students will participate in the Urgency of the Arts, a School-wide unit. Through this unit, we ask: what do arts and humanities research and practice have to offer in our current socio-political climate? The unit introduces you to a diverse range of perspectives, approaches and practices relevant to contemporary practice and thought in the Arts & Humanities. The delivery is devised to help you identify and query your own practices and disciplinary assumptions through encounters with others and within the various practices you undertake in the School, and to raise awareness around contemporary concerns. You will be supported in understanding the ramifications of your own work and practice within a broad cultural context, and to recognise its many potentially unintended readings and consequences. Term 3 The Independent Research Project develops and extends your independent research practice, culminating in a dissertation as well as an oral presentation, research poster display and statement of practice. What you need to know before you apply Candidates are selected entirely on merit and applications are welcomed from all over the world. The selection process will consider creativity, imagination and innovation as demonstrated in your application, as well as your potential to benefit from the programme and to achieve high MA standards overall. You should have a good first degree in arts and humanities or an art, design, photography or performance practice background. If you have a different background, for example in the social sciences or professions, we encourage you to apply. We welcome applications from students of all ages and view both prior academic and professional experience as valuable. For full entry requirements,key datesand the application processvisit the RCA website. Fees for new students Visit the RCA website for tuition fees and for information on scholarships and funding opportunities. Meet the RCA We host a range on online and on-campus open days as well as recruitment event in cities around the world. These events caninclude 1-to-1 meets and portfolio advice, informal chats, presentations and sessions with staff, students and alumni. Check theCheck the RCA event webpagefor details of upcoming events.
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