The City of Bath, museums and heritage students: a case study in HE/Museum sector collaboration
Dr. Kristin G. Doern, Senior Lecturer in History and Heritage, School of Humanities and Cultural Industries, Bath Spa University
k.doern@bathspa.ac.uk
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The City of Bath, designated a World Heritage Site in 1987, is incredibly rich in its artistic, cultural and intellectual provision. History, heritage, art and culture are why Bath attracts almost four million visitors per year, and collaboration between the two universities and the city’s wide range of art and cultural institutions has a long history embedded in the very fabric of some of its key museums (eg. Holburne Museum of Art).
A key curriculum initiative at Bath Spa University has been the development of a strand of Heritage Studies course within the History undergraduate degree running through all three levels. Each course provides a rigorous academic engagement with the complex relationships between ‘history’ and ‘heritage’ while also introducing students to the practical aspects of the heritage and museum sector. They are delivered through a combination of teaching by academic staff and sector practitioners, and through an emphasis on student-led projects aimed at giving students ‘real world’ experience of the heritage industry and museum sector. Collaboration between the University and almost every museum in the city on this programme has created an exciting range of courses that provide students with a unique opportunity to enhance their cultural and educational provision while also practically expanding their employability skills.
This presentation will outline the development of these courses, discuss the issues that arose in the initial creation and delivery of them (especially in relation to the collaboration between the University and the various museum partners), and offer a critical evaluation of the programme at the end of its first year (from the perspectives of the department, the students and also from the perspectives of the museums and sector practitioners involved).