The History of Design MA course offers three specialisations, as follows:

The Renaissance MA specialism offers a unique opportunity to pursue postgraduate study in the context of one of the world’s outstanding collections of Renaissance decorative arts, held at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The academic and intellectual framework is provided by the Royal College of Art, and the MA examines a broad range of theoretical approaches to the study of objects and design. The MA provides a training in independent and original research, and, through the Museum Placement, also offers practical experience of working in a national museum.

The specialism Design and Material Culture 1650 to the present introduces students to a range of approaches for understanding and interpreting design and material culture from a variety of theoretical and historical perspectives. It prepares them to undertake independent and original research and to present their findings in appropriate academic ways. Throughout the first year of the course, the curatorial departments of the Museum are integrated into the teaching programme.

This route consists of one year of full-time coursework and a further year of full-time independent research. The course covers a wide geographical range, taking in the Middle East, South and South-east Asia, China, Korea, and Japan. The collections and curatorial staff of the V&A play a central role in the teaching of this new programme and the museum’s holdings of material unparalleled outside Asia provide the backdrop to the taught programme.

All groups share a common programme in the first term and specialisms are taught separately following this. Students come together for work-in-progress seminars when shared approaches to methodology are discussed.