Description
The Master’s in Cultural Heritage and Museums includes theory-based, methodology-based and applied course units.
It is also based on research activity and experience of the professional context.
This Master’s includes a first year covering a common core curriculum that is undertaken by the whole year group. The programme then splits into two vocationally oriented subject pathways in the second year of this two-year programme.
- A subject pathway entitled ‘Art Management’.
- A subject pathway entitled ‘Mediation for Cultural Heritage and Culture’.
Both subject pathways aim at students’ direct entry into employment without doctoral studies. The pathways bring together university learning with skills gained via experience in different socio-economic contexts.
Objectives
Programme objectives
This Master’s programme trains professionals in two key fields of cultural heritage: preventative conservation and art management on the one hand and the mediation and promotion of architecture and all forms of cultural heritage on the other hand.
Training content
Two years of study: Master 1 (M1) and Master 2 (M2)
This Master’s follows a ‘y-shaped’ structure in that there is a first year consisting of a core curriculum, which all students follow. In the second year, students branch off and specialise via a choice of two subject pathways: ‘Art Management’ or ‘Mediation for Cultural Heritage and Architecture’. The two years of study are closely linked to one another by means of a project that is carried out by the whole year group within the context of a large practical module. This practical module is carried out between Semester 2 and the start of Semester 4. To complete their programme of study students must also undertake a three-month professional internship in the workplace.
Master 1: First year of two-year Master’s programme
Semester 1: Foundations of General Knowledge. Units include: Cultural Heritage, Heritage Law, New Horizons for Cultural Heritage, Technological and Scientific Heritage, Cultural Heritage Materials, Tools and Methods, Introduction to Research with a course unit to be chosen from the available options, Conferences, Languages, Introduction to the Professional Context, Documentation and Archives.
Semester 2: A broader approach is taken to the general knowledge acquired in Semester 1. Students begin their practical module. Units include: Stakeholders and Professions in the World of Cultural Heritage, Economics of Culture and Heritage. Students begin a project with external partners. Further units include: Tools and Methods 2, Cultural Heritage Materials 2, Communication and Guidance. The cross-disciplinary block includes the following units: Languages, Introduction to the Professional Context, Documentation and Archives.
Internships: the internship in Master 1 is not compulsory but is highly recommended.
Master 2: Second year of two-year Master’s programme
In the first semester of Master 2 (Semester 3), students of both subject pathways work together to develop a real-life project that must have come to its conclusion before the start of the final semester (Semester 4). This collaboration is made possible thanks to the involvement of the student association, Archimuse-Bordeaux. There is also a merged block of cross-disciplinary skills. Units include: Introduction to the Professional Context, Languages and a series of conferences.
In Semester 3, the ‘Art Management’ pathway also comprises:
Two specialised course units (worth nine and eight ECTS credits respectively).
In Semester 3, the ‘Mediation for Cultural Heritage and Architecture’ pathway also comprises:
Two specialised course units (worth nine and eight ECTS credits respectively).
• Semester 4 is reserved for the final internship, which will then be the subject of either a dissertation or a written report in response to a research question. This report/dissertation must be approximately 50 pages in length and is defended in an oral examination in the presence of the rest of the year group before the following September.
Access condition
Find information regarding enrolment procedures and the supporting documents to be provided, according to your profile and your level of studies :
Trainings
Internship
The internship must last a minimum of three months (and a maximum of six months). It is imperative that the internship is closely linked with the specialism of the chosen subject pathway. A minimum period of three full months of internship must have been completed by 1 September when students will hand in their written work.
Career pathways
Employment opportunities
Students can envisage recruitment to the following positions:
- art work directors and preventative conservative technicians in museums, archaeological collections, private collections and galleries; preventative conservation experts within specialist companies;
- cultural heritage mediators and organisers of architectural and cultural heritage events, in towns and regions of artistic and historical importance; lecturers and educational or public services within museums, historical monuments, ecomuseums, within protected sites, or on behalf of companies for cultural heritage management.
Further studies
Further study is also possible to doctorate level with a thesis in conjunction with the Department of Art History and Archaeology.
