In 1989 the RCA and the V&A, in association with Imperial College London, launched their unique partnership for the delivery of specialist, work-based learning in conservation, providing learning and research at MA level. RCA/V&A Conservation produced 61 MA, 15 MPhil, and 8 PhD graduates, and some 95% of these are employed in conservation or a directly related activity, many in senior positions in the profession in the UK and internationally. In 2001 RCA/V&A Conservation received the Queen's Anniversary Prize for excellence in higher education, and its students were regularly shortlisted for the UK's Student Conservator of the Year award and won the award on three occasions.

In its early years RCA/V&A Conservation encompassed many areas of conservation of the decorative arts in the V&A. Staff at the V&A and Imperial College, with input from many conservation professionals elsewhere, delivered advanced training and education. The MA expanded beyond the V&A to offer novel MA specialisms through collaboration with many London-based heritage organisations in fields as diverse as Preventive Conservation, Conservation of Social History Objects, Natural History Collections, Ethnographic materials and Musical Instruments, and Conservation Science.

The foundation of the MA experience was the use of the professional conservation work environment as the place for learning, and each student was hosted by a leading conservation studio, laboratory or other workplace. This integrated approach to learning, combining workplace practice and a programme of academic learning and assignments, produced graduates at an advanced level.

The success of RCA/V&A Conservation over twenty years was, therefore, the result of profession-led engagement with our postgraduate learning experience; the involvement of leading heritage employers in the postgraduate experience offered by RCA/V&A Conservation was the essential characteristic and strength of the course. And, in keeping with the College’s objectives, our engagement with the wider conservation profession helped to maintain the relevance of our educational provision.

In research, MPhil and PhD students worked across the disciplinary boundaries of the Humanities, Sciences and the Arts. Exploring avenues of context and understanding that influence conservation practice and theory, they revealed new ways of looking at conservation issues. And within the College, Conservation produced more research graduates than any other area of applied art.

In addition to the V&A, Imperial College London, and a large number of conservation, heritage and education professionals, the following museums and organisations collaborated formally in the development and delivery of RCA/V&A Conservation: the British Museum, English Heritage, the FOM Institute AMOLF (The Netherlands), FORTH-IESL (Crete), Historic Royal Palaces, ICON, the Horniman Museum, the Leather Conservation Centre, the Museum of London, the National Conservation Centre Liverpool, The National Archives, the National Maritime Museum, the National Trust, The Natural History Museum, School of Conservation of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, the Straus Center for Conservation (Harvard University Art Museums), Tate.