Dear colleagues

The following history of design teaching position at the Royal College of Art in London may be of interest to you. Further details and application forms can be requested from the Personnel Administrator at the Royal College of Art - tel. +44 20 7590 4138,  email [log in to unmask]

- David Crowley

ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART
JOB DESCRIPTION
Post:Tutor 
Department: History of Design/Critical & Historical Studies
Grade: Tutor

Background:

The Royal College of Art is the only entirely postgraduate institution of university status that is devoted to the study of art, design and communication.  The College has some 800 students following postgraduate courses and the staff, both full and part time, totals over 350.

The joint Royal College of Art/Victoria & Albert Museum History of Design programme took its first students in 1982.  It encompasses a two-year MA Course, which has an annual intake of around 20 full-time students from a wide range of Humanities backgrounds but with proven experience within and knowledge of the History of Design, in addition to a group of research students, registered for MPhil and PhD degrees, who work alongside the MA students on a part-time or full-time basis.  The programme covers the historical period 1400 to the present.  It is taught by a team of academics who are located in both institutions involved.  In addition, curators from the Museum play an important role within the taught element of the Course and act as supervisors for the research students.

The Critical and Historical Studies Department plays an important role within the College as a whole, as it is responsible for providing a compulsory historical and theoretical academic programme for all the studio-based students.  These constitute 20% of each studio student's first-year programme and serve to create an important bridge between theory and practice.  The RCA provides a unique environment for postgraduate art and design students to develop their practice, in the company of students from their own and a wide range of other disciplines.  The role of CHS is to support all students in making the most of this environment by exposing them to as wide a range of different ideas and practices as possible.  Our specific brief is to present a more general perspective on issues affecting art and design, in contrast to the more focussed concerns of studio practice.  The CHS programme is taught by a broad range of academic staff, each of whom is a specialist in one or more of the disciplinary areas taught at the RCA.

The post of Tutor will be located within the School of Humanities at the RCA.  In addition to its responsibility to the History of Design and Critical & Historical Studies programmes the School also houses two other self-standing postgraduate programmes in Conservation and in Curating Contemporary Art.

Purpose of the post:

The post will be split between the History of Design course and the Critical & Historical Studies programme.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

History of Design:
* To teach first year MA students through seminars and tutorials
* To supervise the dissertations of second year students, and MPhil and PhD research students.

Critical and Historical Studies:
* To teach a course for first years in the Autumn term
* To organise and co-ordinate the College-wide option course in the Spring term
* To supervise the dissertations of studio-based students in the summer term.

… To assume responsibilities for aspects of the administration of the Courses as required by the Heads of Department

* To assist in the Entrance Examination, Interim, Final year and other examinations, and with work connected with College or Course exhibitions or with similar activities as required by the Head of Department

* It is expected that the post holder will maintain an active interest in a relevant area through research and publication

* Any other duties as reasonably required by the Head of Department.

Person Specification:

A tutor must fulfil at least two of the following criteria:

* Contribution by research and professional practice and through publications, exhibition or equivalent, to the advancement of learning and/or application of knowledge in his or her specialised discipline.

* Contribution as an effective teacher of postgraduate students and, through teaching, significant contribution to the advancement of his or her subject.

* Acknowledged standing in his or subject or profession.

Essential:
* Experience of teaching and supervising Design History and Theory at postgraduate level
* A broad knowledge of the History of Design in the period 1830 to the present
* An active interest and engagement in important contemporary debates within art and design
* A strong methodological approach.

Desirable:
* A doctorate in a specialist area within the period 1830 to the present
* A medium specialism in Industrial or Furniture Design.

Additional Information:

* Salary: £24,325 - £35,813 per annum inclusive of £2,134 London Allowance.
* The post is full-time; a near full-time appointment would be considered.  Flexibility on this issue is possible for the right candidate.
* Academic staff are currently employed under fixed-term contracts for a period of up to two years, the first year of which is probationary.
* 35 days annual leave (pro-rata for part-time) plus extended breaks at Christmas and Easter.
* Contributory final salary pension scheme and interest free season ticket loan
* The College has a policy which allows smoking in designated areas only.

March 2003