Course summary

The MA in International Cultural Heritage Management explores the key issues of cultural heritage management around the world and its influence on society, from government policy to local communities.. You will come to understand how cultural heritage management offers a sense of identity, maintains social diversity and cohesion, and enables dialogue between cultures. You will learn how successful heritage management plays a vital role in providing quality education, cultural protection methodologies, sustaining communities, and developing economic potential, as well as how cultural heritage is an essential tool in helping to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals. However, heritage management is not without its challenges. This course will also introduce you to the issues it faces across the world, from the increasingly faster pace of global change and development, the growing demand for larger infrastructure, mass tourism, encroachment, neglect, climate change, natural disasters and targeted destruction, for example in wars and conflicts. The course benefits from the university’s location within its own UNESCO World Heritage Site and examines cultural heritage management from a local, national and international perspective. It will provide the foundations for both academic and professional career choices, in either cultural heritage research or the professional practice route. Your Professional Placement will provide you with firsthand experience of many of these opportunities and challenges heritage sites face. We believe cultural heritage forms part of our individual basic right to participate in cultural life, and we aim to create the next generation of leaders in the field, equipping you with the skills to address its many and complex challenges as well as contributing to the successes of developing cultural heritage in an increasingly globalised and changeable world. There are two routes through the MA: the Cultural Heritage Research route, which concludes with a dissertation, and the Professional Practice Route, which concludes with an analytical case study report. Course structure Core modules Debating Heritage and Museums equips you with the ability to identify and critically discuss the similarities and differences between heritage studies and museum studies, deepening your understanding of these interconnected fields by exploring key concepts, principles, theories, and debates through case studies from around the world. Managing Cultural Heritage in Context is designed to develop your knowledge of cultural heritage sites and organisations through the examination of local, national, and international case studies, providing you with a comprehensive understanding and analysis of the issues related to their management, development, and operations. Protecting World Heritage explores the wider themes surrounding UNESCO World Heritage Sites, examining the research and methodologies devised by Durham’s UNESCO Chair on Archaeological Ethics and Practice in Cultural Heritage. Professional Placement offers a valuable opportunity to enhance your professional skills and awareness by engaging directly with a heritage organisation. Through this hands-on experience, you will develop a critical understanding of how cultural heritage organisations serve their audiences and navigate complex political, economic, and socio-cultural factors. As part of your course, you will have the option to complete either a Professional Practice Project or a Dissertation, depending on your chosen route. If your goal is to work within the profession, you may opt to prepare a detailed analytical case study report focused on a country, organisation, or site of your choice. Alternatively, if you are more interested in exploring theoretical issues or plan to pursue a career in other contexts, including taking a higher-level degree, the Dissertation module will likely be a more suitable choice.