Recent thinking by the UK government on the delivery of cultural policy and strategy has acknowledged the vital role that museums occupy in supporting and enhancing cultural and educational provision both regionally and nationally (DCMS 2008). In this context, work with schools and community groups has received particular attention (Anderson 2004, Berry 1998, Hooper-Greenhill 1994) yet the enormous potential of museums working with HE remains under-explored, under-researched and the needs of higher education students and citizen scholars are often overlooked by museums.
Research conducted by the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning through Design (CETLD) has highlighted the significant potential and importance of museum-university collaborations and the need to identify successful practices and also barriers that prevent institutions from working together more effectively. With limited public funding available for interdisciplinary educational research, CETLD has made the case for a national review of the opportunities that museum-university partnerships offer and how the needs of higher education students and adult learners can better be supported in museums.
The conference aimed to provide a forum for debate surrounding the policy implications of this work and a platform for discussion of issues and ideas that are relevant to the museum and higher education sectors. It brought together policy makers, curators, educators, academics, students and leading professionals from the educational, creative and cultural sectors
Interested parties from both the HE and the museums sector gathered for the network event 2nd July. There was engaged discussion about the first day and how the research could be developed in future. As part of this the group brainstormed for a number of funding and network sources and the results are mapped onto the visualisation below:
