MA in International Heritage Management

Are you looking to develop your career in the growing heritage management sector? Are you already working in the heritage industry and looking to further develop your knowledge, understanding and skills in its management?

For more than 30 years, the MA in International Heritage Management has provided an advanced qualification in heritage and its management. This interdisciplinary programme draws on the experience of our Heritage experts, who are both leading the research in this field and have practical experience working in the heritage industry.

As a student on the programme, you will also benefit from our international partnerships with government, third sector, NGOs and charitable organisations including Biltmore Estate, Chatsworth House, Historic England, Historic Houses, Imperial War Museum, Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust, National Armouries Museums, National Trust and National Museum Institute India. Our partnerships provide you with the opportunity for placements, and internships and to benefit from teaching and specialist lectures from leading industry experts.

It offers you the opportunity to engage with a rich and diverse international research community based at the University and research many aspects of heritage and its management across the world. This international approach will furnish you with the ability to compare and contrast best practices from across the world, which is clearly critical in our global society.

The compulsory modules will provide you with a strong theoretical grounding in critical approaches to heritage in all its forms, in addition to skills and understanding of the management of heritage conservation and heritage management practice more broadly, across all areas of the sector. In addition, you will explore themes of heritage interpretation, or how we present heritage to different publics. Throughout the programme, you will learn research methods and will be engaging with professionals and institutions directly, as well as learning from your fellow students' experience in the sector.

This programme aims to prepare you for employment in the heritage sector and offers the potential to network with potential future employers. There will be the opportunity to complete placements with our partners and to take part in a study week.

Why study this course?

• Expertise – benefit from our academic and industry experience to gain the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in the heritage management sector
• Partnerships – you will have the opportunity to work with museum professionals and world-leading academics to enhance your learning experience. Our formal partnerships include Chatsworth House (UK), Biltmore Estate (US), National Trust, Nemours Estate (US), Historic England, Historic Houses, National Museum Institute (India) and various other museums and heritage organisations around the world
• Global outlook – you will get to meet people from all over the world and learn about a variety of different contexts within which heritage is being operated globally
• Be a part of an exciting department – you will join a lively postgraduate community with opportunities to enhance your learning through external lectures, research seminars and conferences
• Access to academic support services – as a postgraduate student you will have access to services such as the Academic Writing Advisory Service and the Bank of Assessed Work, which will aid your transition from undergraduate to postgraduate level, or back into academia after a time away

The postgraduate experience

The College of Arts and Law offers excellent support to its postgraduates, from libraries and research spaces to career support and funding opportunities.

Our College of Arts and Law Graduate School is a vibrant international community of over 1500 postgraduate students. We benefit from excellent research resources and a supportive environment that allows your research to flourish. Located in the Arts building at the main Edgbaston campus, our team of academic and operational staff is on hand to offer support and advice whenever you need it.

As a College, we have top class facilities that encourage interaction between disciplines and research areas so you’ll be amongst like-minded people, giving you the stimulation, support, and challenges you need to succeed.

The University of Birmingham

Birmingham is constantly developing and evolving in its desire to become a leading global university. This is being achieved through our enhanced research power and reach; the distinctiveness of our exceptional student experience; the breadth and depth of our academic portfolio; our size and the extent of our global networks.

The city of Birmingham

Birmingham is no longer transforming; it is transformed. With independent restaurants, shops and bars throughout the centre and popular districts around the city, this new and vibrant Birmingham is nestled among local markets, iconic buildings of our industrial heritage and contemporary architecture such as the new Library of Birmingham.

New bars and shops open frequently as the city continues to build its youthful and unique identity. There is so much diversity and history within Birmingham that the shops, food and venues reflect this. Old icons such as the Custard Factory host alternative shops and bars, just a short walk from the famous Birmingham wholesale fish and rag markets, all of which nestle close to the new Grand Central train station and shopping precinct.

Birmingham Law School

For almost a century Birmingham Law School has led the way in legal education and research. Today, we continue to provide our students with innovative, challenging, and research-driven education.

The Birmingham LLM takes one year (full-time) or two years (part-time) to complete and involves the study of six specialist modules and a dissertation. Applicants must have a good undergraduate degree in Law or equivalent.

The Birmingham LLM allows students to follow a general route, with complete flexibility in module selection, or follow one of our specialist pathways. When applying to the Birmingham LLM, students do not need to decide whether they wish to specialise at that stage, as pathway specialisms can be decided once students start on the course.

The Shakespeare Institute

The Shakespeare Institute, located in Stratford-upon-Avon, has been a beacon for international Shakespeare scholarship since its foundation in 1951.

The University of Birmingham is engaged in an exciting collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). This pioneering project is the result of the longstanding relationship between the RSC and the Shakespeare Institute at Birmingham.

The collaboration is rooted in a vision of theatre as an engine room for creative thinking and research, a place for the exchange of artistic and academic knowledge and practice, and a shared commitment to enriching student experience and contemporary Shakespeare studies.

Our students are at the heart of the collaboration and encouraged to study and create theatre in Shakespeare's own daring spirit. They benefit from the expertise of RSC artists and practitioners through innovative modules, masterclasses, workshops and projects.