2006-11-16
Museum Studies in the United Kingdom
The education and training of curators in the UK has a long history which has been well documented by Geoffrey Lewis, former Director of the Department of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester, and President of the Museums Association. Discussions as to what curatorial education might entail go back to the establishment of the Museums Association (MA) in 1889. By the mid 1920s, summer schools had been introduced by the National Museum of Wales for its own staff and the staff of affiliated museums, and the MA was considering the introduction of an in-service diploma. This was eventually introduced in 1930. Week-long courses were held in different museums in turn until 1980, when the Museums Association Diploma Courses were transferred to the Department of Museum Studies at Leicester; by the end of the decade these courses had been abolished as other provision was by then available.
The Department of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester was the first Museum Studies programme to be established, in 1966, along with its sister course at the University of Manchester in 1971. Leicester offered a post-graduate pre-entry certificate in all curatorial fields while the Manchester students specialised in the decorative arts. By 1975, Leicester had introduced an MA or MsC in Museum Studies in addition to the graduate certificate, and eventually, the education of curators took the form of post-graduate masters programmes in Museum Studies.
During the 1880s and 1990s, other post-graduate programmes opened across the country, including for example at the Universities of Newcastle, Aberdeen, Essex, London, Birmingham, and more recently, Southampton, Glasgow, Bournemouth and Winchester, among others. The trend has been away from a generalised overview of curatorial work to a specialised focus, and away from an approach based on vocational skills training to one that encompasses theory as well as practice. The shift is well illustrated in the difference between the Manual of Curatorship, (1984, 1992) which aimed to satisfy a long-felt need within the profession for an authoritative work covering all aspects of museum skills for the practising curator, and A Companion to Museum Studies (2006) which brings together museum scholars from different disciplines and backgrounds (and) presents a broad range of perspectives and identifies the most vital questions and concerns in museums and in museum studies.
There is now a proliferation of postgraduate masters courses to choose from. Some of these offer overviews of museum work as a whole in addition to more specialised programmes (Leicester, Newcastle, University College, London); some have a strong bias towards the arts (Manchester, Essex, East Anglia); some focus on arts or heritage management (City University, Greenwich, Nottingham). The most recent specialisms are education and exhibition. Most universities offer more than one route through, with full-time and part-time routes being well established, and provision for distance learning being much more unusual. Most programmes have a mix of British and International students. There are fewer opportunities to research for a higher degree, but Leicester, Manchester, Nottingham, and Essex, for example, run flourishing PhD programmes.
Museum studies education remains controversial. The post-graduate programmes are expensive for British students as grants are few. As a result, they tend to attract white, middle-class young people, with a strong female emphasis, and there are worries about the diversity of museum staff as a result. Salaries in museums are not high, especially in the early years, and this is a deterrent for many. The Museums Association, in association with the University of Leicester, introduced a system of grants to encourage young people from ethnic minorities to undertake a museum studies programme and this has been very successful, with other universities buying into the system. The introduction of the distance learning route at Leicester in the late 1990s has enabled many to study for their Masters degree while remaining employed.
During the 1880s and 1990s, other post-graduate programmes opened across the country, including for example at the Universities of Newcastle, Aberdeen, Essex, London, Birmingham, and more recently, Southampton, Glasgow, Bournemouth and Winchester, among others. The trend has been away from a generalised overview of curatorial work to a specialised focus, and away from an approach based on vocational skills training to one that encompasses theory as well as practice. The shift is well illustrated in the difference between the Manual of Curatorship, (1984, 1992) which aimed to satisfy a long-felt need within the profession for an authoritative work covering all aspects of museum skills for the practising curator, and A Companion to Museum Studies (2006) which brings together museum scholars from different disciplines and backgrounds (and) presents a broad range of perspectives and identifies the most vital questions and concerns in museums and in museum studies.
There is now a proliferation of postgraduate masters courses to choose from. Some of these offer overviews of museum work as a whole in addition to more specialised programmes (Leicester, Newcastle, University College, London); some have a strong bias towards the arts (Manchester, Essex, East Anglia); some focus on arts or heritage management (City University, Greenwich, Nottingham). The most recent specialisms are education and exhibition. Most universities offer more than one route through, with full-time and part-time routes being well established, and provision for distance learning being much more unusual. Most programmes have a mix of British and International students. There are fewer opportunities to research for a higher degree, but Leicester, Manchester, Nottingham, and Essex, for example, run flourishing PhD programmes.
Museum studies education remains controversial. The post-graduate programmes are expensive for British students as grants are few. As a result, they tend to attract white, middle-class young people, with a strong female emphasis, and there are worries about the diversity of museum staff as a result. Salaries in museums are not high, especially in the early years, and this is a deterrent for many. The Museums Association, in association with the University of Leicester, introduced a system of grants to encourage young people from ethnic minorities to undertake a museum studies programme and this has been very successful, with other universities buying into the system. The introduction of the distance learning route at Leicester in the late 1990s has enabled many to study for their Masters degree while remaining employed.
Author: Prof. Eilean Hooper-Greenhill
Professor of Museum Studies, RCMG (Research Centre for Museums and Galleries), Department of Museum Studies, University of Leicester.
Professor of Museum Studies, RCMG (Research Centre for Museums and Galleries), Department of Museum Studies, University of Leicester.
There are no comments for this content yet.
similar content
