Decorative Arts and Historic Interiors (Taught)

The University of Buckingham is:

• Home of the two-year degree, the University of Buckingham, based in the South East of England, is ranked 6th for Student Satisfaction in the UK (National Student Survey, 2020).

• We are proudly independent and not-for-profit, and offer courses in Allied Health, Business, Computing, Education, Humanities, Law, Medicine, Psychology and Security and Intelligence. We are one of the few universities in the UK that offer September and January start dates for almost all of our courses.

• Based in Buckingham on a riverside campus, we are only 20 minutes’ from Milton Keynes central station and a short drive from Bicester, Aylesbury, Banbury and Northampton. There is free parking on-site and we are within easy reach of London and Oxford.

• Our award-winning small class tutorials ensure every student is known by name and supported throughout their studies, including by dedicated personal tutors.

• As pioneers of the two-year degree, we offer a condensed version of the traditional three-year degree, meaning you can gain a full honours degree and complete your studies a whole year earlier. Alternatively, you can complete both your undergraduate and master’s degree with us in just three years: saving you time and money.

Based in central London, our unique hands-on and interdisciplinary postgraduate degree investigates applied arts in historic interiors.

This unique course offers an exciting opportunity for the study of European decorative arts in historic interiors at postgraduate level. With a strong focus on Britain and France in the global context of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it employs a wide range of disciplinary approaches for students to acquire specialist knowledge of architecture, interiors, furniture, silver, textiles and ceramics, of their modes of design and production, and questions of patronage, collecting and display.

A key element of this unique course is the emphasis on in-gallery teaching and object handling with world-class specialists. It draws on the outstanding collections and curatorial expertise of the nearby Wallace Collection, the V&A South Kensington, and Waddesdon Manor, and of other leading specialists who participate in the teaching; see our dedicated Academic Staff Page.

With a long-standing international reputation, the programme provides vocational and rigorous academic training to prepare graduates for careers in museums, auction houses, historical consulting in interior design, antique dealing, and further study.

The programme runs over four terms: Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. We study the development of the decorative arts and the interior in France and Britain in the long eighteenth century. Students then examine the nineteenth century and focus on revivalism, collecting, and the practical and historical problems of re-interpreting eighteenth-century interiors and objects. The historical content is combined with a study skills module, and with the Professional Practice Project and the Waddesdon Files project, which are designed to equip students with experience and research skills applicable to careers in museums and built heritage.

The teaching takes place in central London (Bloomsbury), two days a week over three terms, including compulsory study visits. A typical day of teaching will involve lectures, student-led seminars, and in-gallery teaching. In the Summer term students complete a dissertation under supervision, for submission at the end of the term.

Subject to the agreement of the Programme Director, there are some options for part-time study, one day a week over two years, or by deferral of the dissertation.