M.A. Cultural Heritage: Sustainability & Community

AUR’s Cultural Heritage program equips the next generation of heritage professionals to meet the challenges of preserving our vast patrimony of art, history, and culture. Our graduates gain the skills for careers in practical heritage protection and project development alongside equally important soft skills in intercultural communication.

Based in Rome, the city at the center of debates around the future of global heritage, the M.A. program in Cultural Heritage: Sustainability and Community trains graduates to face the most important challenges in the heritage industry today: decolonization of our museums; preventing the looting and trafficking of cultural objects; safeguarding the unique culture of indigenous cultures and marginalized groups; protecting cultural heritage during conflict and, after conflict, using the reconstruction of communities as part of long term peacebuilding.

Cultural heritage is an essential element of developing stable, sustainable, and resilient communities, and it is a crucial component of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals 2030.

What makes AUR's Cultural Heritage program unique?

Community focus

This program focuses on the community, not on state structures or institutional responses to heritage. AUR’s program aims to train students in skills that lead to roles in the heritage sector, working with communities, NGOs, and other organizations to ensure the restoration and protection of sites of cultural importance.

Professional networks

The faculty of the Cultural Heritage program are career professionals highly regarded in their fields. Their connections, alongside the growing reputation of this program, see students working directly with organizations like ICCROM, UNICRI, Parco del Colosseo, and many more.

Career potential

Students from AUR's MA in Cultural Heritage have gone on to illustrious careers with the likes of The Smithsonian, NATO, Pakistan's Higher Education Commission, and the Antiquities Trafficking Unit of the New York District Attorney’s Office.

The American University of Rome (AUR) is a U.S. small liberal arts institution based in the heart of Rome, Italy. All of our programs are taught in English. AUR offers three career-focused master's degrees: Cultural Heritage (Sustainability and Community), Food Studies (Policies for Sustainable Production and Consumption), and Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution (Human Security in the Mediterranean and Beyond).

Around 50% of our graduate students come directly from their undergraduate studies; the other 50% vary in age and work experience and enter the programs to boost their careers or change direction. AUR welcomes students from across the globe into our thriving, diverse community. AUR’s graduate programs are small; the average class size is less than ten students. This enables close academic relationships with classmates and professors, as does the experiential nature of our teaching; Rome and its environs are used as an everyday extension of the classroom, and each program prides itself on offering many opportunities to interact with professionals in relevant fields and disciplines.

The overarching philosophy of AUR’s graduate school is to engage our students directly with some of the most important global issues of our time: the sustainability of global peace, global food production and distribution, and the management and maintenance of global cultural heritage. AUR’s master’s programs are 15-month courses; however, after the first nine months of study, students can either choose to stay in Rome for the duration or complete their internships and/or theses remotely. This modular structure allows students to complete their degrees in situ anywhere in the world. The AUR Admissions Committee takes a holistic view of each applicant, considering grades, recommendation letters, and the required interview to help inform admissions decisions. Personal interviews are required of all applicants. They may be conducted face-to-face, on the phone, or via video-conferencing.

Mission Statement

The American University of Rome prepares students to live and work across cultures as skilled and knowledgeable citizens of an interconnected and rapidly changing world. AUR is a private, independent, not-for-profit institution of higher education, offering undergraduate and graduate liberal arts programs to degree-seeking and study-abroad students from around the world.

Taking the best of the American approach to interdisciplinary, student-centered learning, our international faculty and staff use Rome as our classroom and Italy and Europe as invaluable resources. AUR’s innovative programs promote intellectual excellence, personal growth, and an appreciation of cultural diversity in an international environment.

Student Life

The Student Life Office is at the heart of your daily life at The American University of Rome!

We strive to complement the academic mission of the University by providing and supporting opportunities for learning through extra-curricular activities. The activities and facilities that we offer strive to promote students’ personal growth, leadership development, social responsibility, multicultural competence, and intellectual inquiry. Our staff is committed to providing you with superb service in an engaging environment to entice your participation in formal and informal activities.

Accreditation

AUR is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and is a non-profit institution.

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) was formally incorporated under Pennsylvania Commonwealth law on March 1, 2013. From its origins in 1919 through February 2013, the Commission was a unit of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. Although now an independent corporation, the Commission maintains an ongoing relationship with the Middle States Association.

The Commission on Higher Education is recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education to conduct accreditation and pre-accreditation (candidacy status) activities for institutions of higher education in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, including distance education and correspondence education programs offered at those institutions. MSCHE is also recognized by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) to accredit degree-granting institutions that offer one or more post-secondary educational programs of at least one academic year in length in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and other geographic areas in which the Commission conducts accrediting activities.

The Commission is a voluntary, non-governmental, membership association that defines, maintains, and promotes educational excellence across institutions with diverse missions, student populations, and resources. It examines each institution as a whole, rather than specific programs within institutions.