It was the second day of the conference to mark the 41st. anniversary of the foundation of the V&A/RCA MA Course in the History of Design – or maybe it was the 40th. anniversary of the first cohort of students graduating.

The day was about current issues in the history of design: new ways of engaging audiences; the new galleries of the Röhsska Museum of Design and Craft in Gothenburg; a new film about the Artists International Association; and sessions in the afternoon about decolonisation.

The evening was more nostalgic: Chris Frayling on the origins of the course – the closure of the circulation department, his interview by Iris Murdoch, the role of John Physick; Penny Sparke on the wonderful Gillian Naylor and Clive Wainwright; and John Styles on the support of the V&A curators. There have been 800 students since 1982 and they are in jobs all over the world – Paris, Alberta, M+ and, not least, in the V&A itself.

So, Roy Strong’s view that it would be good for the V&A to be involved in postgraduate teaching was right, although it was not quite as straightforward as was occasionally implied.