MA Art Gallery and Museum Studies / Course details

Museums are critical to the ways we think about and represent the world around us. They have never been more important not only as places of learning, but as sites for community engagement, action and wellbeing. As a future museum professional, MA Art Gallery and Museum Studies will give you the knowledge, skills and expertise to navigate this creative and fast-paced sector.

You'll develop your abilities to apply innovative academic concepts to museum work, under the guidance of leading researchers with a wide-range of museum and creative practice backgrounds. The expert teaching of staff across the Institute for Cultural Practices means you'll benefit from a diverse curriculum which utilises their knowledge on topics including curating, audience engagement, arts markets and decolonising museums.

Our location, in one of the UK's major cultural hotspots, will also allow you to gain hands-on experience in the sector. The university has links to many local, regional, national and international cultural institutions, at which you can complete work placements as part of your degree.

We also run regular field trips to locations across the northwest of Egland including Liverpool, Leeds and Bradford, giving you a chance to visit some of the region's most innovative museums and the professionals who work there.

Culture in Manchester and Links with Industry

Manchester states within its local cultural strategy that it aims to become the most culturally democratic city in the world and has an arts offering to help it achieve this ambition.

Along with the biennial Manchester International Festival, and its home, the Factory, a multi-million-pound large-scale arts production house and venue, the city-region of Greater Manchester has a host of brilliant arts organisations, including a network of galleries, museums, digital and outdoor arts, festivals, studio collectives and community-based groups.

We make the most of being based at the heart of a vibrant cultural ecosystem, with these organisational partners and our own campus-based cultural organisations, including the university museums, Manchester Museum and the Whitworth Art Gallery.

In the Institute for Cultural Practices, we work with many of the arts organisations in Manchester. These partners enhance the course by offering lectures, site visits, and work placements, from which students can gain direct insights and develop their understanding of the management strategies and approaches employed by professionals in the sector.

Work Placement

While undertaking the MA in Art Gallery and Museum Studies, you can apply for a 20-day work placement on a project or programme within a relevant cultural organisation and work with heritage professionals. The Institute for Cultural Practices has many partners offering placements, such as the Manchester Museum, The Whitworth Art Gallery, The Museum of Science and Industry, and National Museums Liverpool.

Placements are completed between November and May and are supported by academic mentoring, supervision, and placement mentors. They form part of the elective course options and are assessed in semester 2 via placement reports.

On placement in a host organsation, you’ll benefit from a hands-on opportunity to apply and develop your theoretical knowledge and practical skills by applying them to real-life museum situations.

Please note that the number of placements on offer varies yearly. Students can also organise their own placements, subject to the approval of the course unit convenor.

You'll be taught and trained by our expert academic staff and experienced arts, museum and heritage professionals. Our course combines both guided and independent study, and includes seminars, guest lectures and site visits.

Most teaching takes place in small interactive seminar groups, involving, as appropriate, directed-reading, fieldwork in museums and galleries, staff and student presentations, discussion, debate, problem-solving and group-work.

Most course units run one day/week over 12 weeks, and there are variations in the number of class hours per teaching day depending on the course/week (ie 3-5 hours).

As a general rule, a 30-credit course includes 300 learning hours, which can be roughly divided as follows: a third in classes or class-related work; a third in independent study; and a third in preparation of assignments.

You will also undertake collections management group project (as part of the 'Managing Collections and Exhibitions' unit) and an exhibition group project (as part of the 'Professional Practice Project' unit) in collaboration with a museum, gallery or related cultural organisation in Manchester or the north-west of England.

Full-time or part-time?

This course is available as a one-year full-time or a two-year part-time course.

We particularly welcome part-time students, and there are many advantages in combining study with work practice, whether you already have a museum post, or are just setting out on your career.

Part time students have classes one day per week in Semester 1 (in Semester 1 it's one or two days per week). You should also count time for library work/fieldwork that may require you to come to Manchester, and although sometimes this can be done on the day of teaching, often you will need to come in on an additional day.

When the work placement kicks off (about November/December in Year 1 or Year 2), you should also count one more day/week (on average) at the work placement institution (which, if appropriate or relevant, can be the organisation where you currently work; but undertaking a project different to your day-to-day work) - this is of course if you decide to take the work placement unit.

Core staff

Dr Kostas Arvanitis (Programme Director)

Senior Lecturer in Museology

Research Interests: spontaneous memorials, digital heritage, immersive technologies, AI and museums, heritage activism, ethics of care and trauma-informed practice in museums.

Dr Andy Hardman

Lecturer in Cultural and Creative Industries

Research Interests: creative research practices, professional approaches to engagement and collaboration, uses of filmmaking in museum and heritage practice.

Dr Emma Martin

Senior Lecturer in Museology

Research Interests: political and colonial histories of Tibetan material culture, Tibetan and Himalayan materialities, museology and dissident community practice.

Different units have different methods of assessment.

Introduction to Museum Studies (Semester 1 core unit, 30 credits) 

• a 6,000-word essay (100% of the overall course mark);

Managing Collections and Exhibitions (Semester 1 core unit, 30 credits) 

• a 4,000-word individual Fieldwork Portfolio (60%);
• a Group Fieldwork Portfolio (40%). 

Optional units (Semester 2, 15 or 30 credits) 

These are assessed by a combination of essays and project portfolios. 

For details, click on the links to individual units in the 'Course unit list' section. 

Dissertation (Semester 2 and Summer) 

• a 12,000 to 15,000-word standard dissertation; or 
• a practice-based dissertation (8,000-10,000 words and appropriate evidence/outputs of the practice).

Examples of past dissertation titles include:

• University museums and social inclusion
• Communicating Cultures: an assessment of the use of artist interventions in non-art museums
• Evaluating the educative potential of textile collections within the museum
• Missing audiences: the relationship between ethnicity and museum visiting in and around Southall
• Restitution in the regions: The Lindisfarne Gospels and the Lewis Chessmen
• Making the penal past relevant: the interpretation of history and execution in prison museums
• Revitalising musical instruments: Museum display, access and adaptation
• Histories and Her-stories: narrative and gender in museum display
• The development of Caribbean museums and the formation of national and cultural identities
• Natural history collections: Archiving the natural world
• Locating Scotland's identity within the Museum of Scotland.
• The presentation and interpretation of archaeological heritage in on-site museums.
• Representing the past: archaeology in the museum
• Recognising remains: the displays of Egyptian mummies in museums
• Photography, community and the E-volving museum
• Social Media and the reinterpretation of digital heritage
• Museum audience development in a Digital Age: Using social networking sites to engage new audiences

The practical skills I gained during my placement, specifically grant writing, directly translated to the start of my career in development at the British Museum.

The knowledge and support I received throughout my MA made me excited for a career within museums and gave me the skills I needed to succeed.

Victoria Stopar (2018-19)

In the MA Art Gallery and Museum Studies course, I found a home for my background in writing and dual interests in visitor experience and digital interpretation.

In addition, programme partnerships with the Whitworth and Manchester Museum allowed me to participate in projects with real, practical applications.

Meredith Whitfield (2016-17)

The course gave me the opportunity to network with a large set of museum and arts academics and practicing professionals.

It also paved the way for PhD studies, and gave me the placement experience to make the transition to a different aspect of museum work.

Jessica Fowler (2016-17)

The small class sizes and hands-on training were my favourite features of the programme.

A friendly learning atmosphere and a close relationship with the lecturers provided an enjoyable and positive learning experience.

Elaine Ngan (2015-16)

The placement module was one of the main reasons I took Art Gallery and Museum Studies, in order to gain real workplace experience.

This was extremely valuable in giving me an added boost in practical experience for starting my career in the museum and heritage sector.

Lorna Hadley (2015-16)

See more alumni profiles .

The University of Manchester has world-class facilities.

We have the largest single-site university library in the UK along with a £24 million learning facility.

As a student of the Graduate School, you'll have access to excellent training within a dedicated postgraduate space where you can meet with each other, access resources, organise events and participate in a thriving academic community.

Find out more on the Facilities page.