Through a combination of lectures provided by experts in their field and a programme of study visits, you engage with diverse aspects of heritage management and research approaches that will enable you to progress in the sector.

You will take your modules over the course of two terms. The study week takes place in the second term, based in accommodation provided by the University. 

Our wide network of contacts with the industry in the UK means that we can also offer support for you to organise a placement during your course if you wish. 

 

Core modules

You will study six core modules:

Critical Approaches to Heritage

This module seeks to introduce the core issues relating to understanding heritage. It looks critically at heritage in all its forms: tangible and intangible, official and unofficial, and examines how heritage ‘works’ and happens. Throughout heritage is treated as a complex modern phenomenon that plays an important part in modern life across the world. 
Assessment: 4,000-word assignment

 

Heritage Conservation Management

Everyone responsible for a part of the heritage is working with a finite resource which must be managed appropriately to ensure its long term survival. Key concepts such as stewardship and sustainability are considered in this module. The premise that creative conservation can only be achieved through economic viability and accountability runs through the sessions. Core training is provided in conservation and planning legislation, visitor management, integrated management of historic properties, collections management and carrying capacity.
Assessment: 4,000-word assignment

 

Heritage Management Practices

This module aims to outline the range of practical and professional skills that are required in running a heritage site. It looks at the issues surrounding financial management and fundraising, the management of people, including staff and volunteers as well the wider national and international context of museum charging, arts sponsorship, and external funding.  The module also covers the marketing of heritage sites, including the increasing importance of digital media and social networking. Assessment is through the creation of a feasibility study for a new heritage attraction. (Read more about this module)
Assessment: 4,000-word assignment

 

Research Skills and Methods

The module also considers ‘heritage’ as a contemporary lived phenomenon, one that is global in extent and yet local in its experience, essentially a ‘public’ resource that is inevitably contested and both uniting and divisive in its effects. Accordingly, students will be introduced to the techniques whereby these aspects of ‘heritage’ are studied, including approaches to its management and recording, the communities that make associations with particular heritages, and the attributes of heritage sites and landscapes.
Assessment: 4,000-word assignment

 

Heritage Interpretation

This module explores good practice in interpretation, the art of revealing to visitors the meaning and significance of objects and places. The philosophy of interpretation is considered and issues such as selectivity and bias are debated. Interpretation is considered in the contexts of recreation management, tourism, education and museums. Key concepts include communication theory, interpretative planning and programming, exhibition design and layout, visitor behaviour, interpretative media, language for interpretation, monitoring and evaluation.
Assessment: 4,000-word assignment

 

Study Week

The study week is an ideal opportunity to experience a diverse range of heritage sites, and engage with the staff who run them so that you gain an insight into real-life projects and keys aspects of management practice.

Assessment: A group project combining a 2,500-word reflexive personal statement about the project and a 20-minute group presentation 

 

Placement

You will also have the opportunity to complete an optional work placement. Our wide network of contacts with the industry in the UK mean that we can offer placements in a wide range of institutions, enhancing your career prospects and offering the opportunity to gather data for your dissertation.

 

Dissertation

In addition to your taught modules, you will conduct a piece of independent research with the support of a supervisor, culminating in a 15,000-word dissertation.