Part-time 2-3 years starting in January

Fees for 2010-11

Home: Full-time year 1 - £4,950
International: Full-time year 1 - £8,850

Home: Part-time year 1 - £2,475
Home: Part-time year 2 - £2,475

What is unique about the MA programme? It is the interaction between the students and the academic staff, who are involved in the taught programme. A major part of the programme is the live projects. This is where the student body undertakes varying conservation techniques whilst on site in stately homes and museums. These projects vary in duration from anything from one to five days on site, enabling the students to live the experience of working and staying in a stately home.

We have access to objects of high quality and provenance enabling the graduate to increase their portfolio potentials.

Key features of the course:

• The course commences with studies in conservation, ethics , furniture history, restoration theory, material science and practice
• It then progresses to a research project designed to match the interest of each particular student, this is supported through the taught programme in both theory and practice. A substantial practical restoration of selected objects is undertaken and dissertation research matching the selected areas chosen is prepared
• The final period of the course sees the integration of theoretical and practical studies exhibited by the dissertation and the completed restored or conserved pieces
  

Entry requirements:

A good relevant first degree. However there may be exceptional cases where an undergraduate qualification is not always necessary; students come to us from a variety of backgrounds, including interior design, architecture, product design, engineering, sculpture and the medical profession. All applicants are interviewed with a portfolio of previous work.

Bursaries: Two Roger Vere Furniture Scholarships, to cover tuition fees for full-time home students are available.

The course is supported by The National Association of Decorative & Fine Arts Societies.

This course prepares students specifically to work in the profession and places a heavy emphasis on a diverse range of objects. Course delivery is principally through a negotiated major project (or a series of linked projects), which is carefully selected by the student in consultation with the team to enable them to explore their individual areas of interest.

Work upon the object concerned only commences after thorough documentation of all aspects of the object and any other relevant background research has been completed. The course is actively involved within the conservation profession and has links with the Institute of Conservation (ICON) and with several major national collections, including the Wallace and Royal Collections. Students have the opportunity to research, conserve and res tore major objects from both these and private collections. Though stress is laid upon research and documentation, final assessment is based upon the practical solutions employed on the conservation/restoration of objects. Thus, the course ideally suits the aims of the Professional Preparation Master’s scheme.

Resources and support

The course team is headed by Dr Campbell Norman-Smith, an expert in finishing materials and processes, and Paul Tear MBE, who for 25 years was conservator of the Wallace Collection in London, nationally the premier collection of antique French furniture. They are ably assisted by Professor Jake Kaner, an expert in the history of furniture.

This course sits within the Furniture & Interiors Portfolio and benefits from a vas t range of technical facilities, specifically, a broad range of laboratory equipment to enable the student to analyse surfaces and substrates . A main feature of the course is that students undertake live projects which cons is t of working on-site for a period of one week at a time in properties of important historical significance - recent visits have included the private collections at West Wycombe Park, Kentchurch Court and Waddesdon Manor.

Furthermore this course has extensive links throughout the academic and museum world, including existing Socrates /Erasmus arrangements with the Antwerp Academy of Fine Art and the École Boulle in Paris. The strength of integration in the sector both nationally and internationally means that students have the opportunity, over the period of the course, to attend lectures , seminars and presentations given by leading experts , practitioners and active researchers from the field.

Roger Vere Furniture Scholarships

The Faculty Scholarships Committee is pleased to announce that there are opportunities for outstanding postgraduate students to apply for awards in the field of furniture.

Eligibility

You must be currently accepted on a full or part-time postgraduate course in furniture at Bucks New University.

A maximum of two awards will be available and will consist of a full fee waiver for the (home/EU) course fees for the year January-December 2010. Awards will be tenable for one year only.

Criteria

Awards will be allocated on the bas is of academic excellence and, as competition is expected to be intense, applicants are strongly encouraged to consider their application carefully.
Applications will be assessed against the following criteria.

Applicants must:

• Have evidence of having actively searched for funding elsewhere
• Have a research proposal which clearly relates to areas of coursework, e.g. conservation, sustainability, global design is sues
• Be able to demonstrate some preliminary links with industry/museum/external support.
• All applications should be received by Friday 27 November 2009. Applicants will be notified by post as to whether they have been successful.
  
  How to Apply