M.A. Sustainable Cultural Heritage

Program Objectives:

To provide an overview of the interdisciplinary nature of the field.
To give the necessary heritage management tools in line with international, national and regional strategies to enhance cultural heritage management.
To provide an understanding of the tools, techniques and processes for documenting and assessing cultural resources, producing management plans, and implementation.
To foster an understanding of the role of heritage agencies and organizations at international, national, local and regional levels.

Cultural heritage is becoming increasingly economically important throughout the world. Accordingly, well-trained professionals will find a range of fulfilling careers in this field.

In balancing theory and practice, this Master’s program prepares students for employment in heritage administration, development control and consultancies, as well as for continuing in academic research.

In developing countries, obtaining World Heritage status from UNESCO can be of vital importance. Recognizing this, UNESCO has launched the World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism program to promote responsible use of heritage sites in economic planning.

The European Union regards cultural heritage as essential to the future economic development of Europe and has emphasized the importance of trained professionals to manage this resource.

The Aga Khan Foundation has described cultural heritage as a “trampoline” for economic growth in Islamic countries. In the United States heritage tourism contributes $171b to local economies.

In Great Britain heritage tourism contributes £26.4bn to the national economy. The Heritage Lottery Fund has commissioned a report ‘Investing in Success – Heritage and the UK tourism economy’ in order to plan future growth in this area.

Potential career paths for graduates of this program include:

Employment as a project manager and/or program coordinator with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or international organizations (IO).
Not-for-profit organizations or other organizations that are active in the field of heritage, heritage tourism and international development through heritage.
Consultants on heritage projects, economic development projects involving heritage or tourism projects involving heritage.
Analysts of cultural heritage, especially in relation to economic development.
Museums and historic preservation organizations.
Further study and/or becoming an independent researcher in the field of cultural heritage.