Museum Studies MA

Students are equipped with a range of skills that they can apply in any museum and develop critically aware perspectives on professional practice and research processes. The programme's main aim is to provide an in-depth understanding of approaches to the research, documentation, communication, public engagement, interpretation, presentation and preservation of curated materials in museums, while responding to their audiences and communities.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits.

The programme consists of four core modules (75 credits), two optional modules (30 credits), work placement (15 credits) and a research dissertation (60 credits).

All students are required to take the following:

• The Museum: Critical Perspectives
• Managing Museums
• Collections Management and Care
• Museum Communication

Students also choose further options to the value of 30 credits from the following:

• Antiquities and the Law
• Collections Curatorship
• Cultural Heritage, Globalisation and Development
• Cultural Memory
• Exhibition Project
• Intangible Dimensions of Museum Objects from Egypt
• Oral History from Creation to Curation
• Curating Science & Technology
• Nature, culture and the languages of art: theories and methodologies of art interpretation
• Archaeologies of the Modern World
• GIS in Archaeology and History

All students undertake an independent research project on a museological topic which culminates in a dissertation of 10,000 words (60 credits).

The programme is delivered through lectures, small group seminars, practical workshops, student-led panel meetings, museum visits and guest speakers. Students are required to undertake a work placement for a total of 20 days. Assessment is through coursework assignments, projects, essays, field reports, portfolio and the dissertation.

Students are required to undertake a minimum of 20 days' work in a museum (or similar institution). Drawing from an extensive network of musuems we collaborate with, the aim is to arrange placements that match students' prior skills, interests and expectations. Placements usually take place one day per week during term-time, although other arrangements may be possible. Students create and present a poster, through which they are assessed, and organise a poster session and placement provider reception.

Recent placements have included: Brent Museum, the British Museum, The Jewish Museum, Freud Museum, Hackney Museum, London Transport Museum, Handle Hendrix Museum, Alexandra Palace, the Royal Academy, Royal Botanical Gardens Kew, Royal Historical Palaces, St Paul's Cathedral, Benjamin Franklin Museum, Islington Museum, the House of Illustration, Marx Memorial Museum, UCL Museums & Collections and the Wallace Collection.