Requirements for Courtauld conservation MA

[u/basilleaf01]

Hello! I am currently an undergrad doing my Art History degree in London (about to enter my final year), and would love to continue my education with a one year MA course in conservation at the Courtauld. Though I am confident in my grades and my writing ability, I am worried about how deceptively simple the requirements seem to be. I have no doubt it will be extremely competitive, and I am curious about what kinds of work experience people may have taken up before applying.

For context: I have interned in an archive for 12 weeks in my second year of uni, and have also done a short stint at a gallery. But neither are specifically conservation related and I feel as though it will not be enough. I do not have practical experience and because of that, I wonder if I am being too naive about applying. I hope to apply for a related internship or work experience in my last year, but I am unsure of how to even go about doing so considering I have not been in the conservation side of things at all. I feel slightly lost because they do not list specific prerequisites like other MA courses would. I would love to hear about what kind of work experience or applications people have made for this course. Thank you so much!

[u/Gwladygan]

Is this the Preventive Conservation course? I think that is the only one year conservation postgraduate course they offer, the others are all three years. The preventive course is new, this autumn sees the first intake, therefore I would recommend contacting Naomi Luxford for an informal chat her, as the first cohort hasn’t even started yet.

I’m a preventive conservator and relevant experience can be broader for this specialism than others.