Master in Cultural, Intellectual and Visual History

The Master's Degree in Cultural, Intellectual and Visual History, delivered entirely in English, aims to provide students with a solid preparation that combines historical knowledge from antiquity to the contemporary age, rigorous method, critical thinking and familiarity with digital technologies.

The focus on cultural studies allows them to acquire specific interpretive keys in the analysis of reality, in its diachronic and synchronic, national and transnational dimensions: you will study the ideas and artifacts, institutions and practices, beliefs and behaviors that have contributed to forming and transforming the cultural physiognomy of societies, especially European ones, in their variety and distinctiveness, from antiquity to the present, together with the factors, material and intellectual, that have helped to delineate, in different times and places, different ways of interpreting associated life, in the articulation of roles and identities.

The course is divided into two years of 60 ECTS each, and involves the "mixed" mode - that is, with remote lectures for about 50 percent of the total. The first year will be entirely carried out at the university site in Milan, with exclusively inperson classes (the only exception will be the language course for the achievement of the C1 English level delivered remotely by the SLAM University Language Center). Instead, the online mode will be reserved for the second year, with the exception of specific activities that will remain in-presence and will be delivered in concentrated periods of time, i.e. laboratories, possible meetings with the thesis supervisor, tutoring activities, and educational trips.

The main professions that graduates of the MA in Cultural, Intellectual and Visual History will be able to access can be grouped into the following professional profiles:

1. Museum communicator and cultural heritage manager Function in a working context: The highly qualified training of MA graduates in Cultural, Intellectual and Visual History allows them to collaborate in the development of programmes for the promotion of cultural heritage and external communication of public and private administrations active in the field of cultural heritage, using all the advanced technological tools deemed appropriate to reach different target groups. The graduate will also be able to take care of internal communication within organisations and institutions and relations with private and public partners, collaborate in promoting cultural venues and events, and managing relations with the media and citizens. Skills associated with the function: Operators in the sector have organisational and communication skills; they are able to assess the potential of enhancing cultural heritage (tangible and intangible), defining and monitoring the appropriate strategies to be implemented, also through the use of information technologies; they have skills for the preparation of a communication plan and its implementation (drafting of press releases; maintenance and implementation of mailing lists; creation of images and content for social media and other web platforms, etc.). They can contribute to the creation of multimedia and multisensory cultural itineraries and installations suitable for communication and use also by people with disabilities. Career possibilities: they work in the public and private sector, holding positions of responsibility, such as those of museum communicators and documentary heritage managers. Specifically, they work in archives and libraries, museums, private foundations and public administrations in charge of the conservation and enhancement of cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible, especially as promotion and communication managers.

2. Author of historical content Function in a working context: Production of historical content for popular texts, school texts, television programmes, stage sets, documentaries, multimedia productions. Skills associated with the function: Qualified knowledge of historical processes and mastery of the subject; high level of writing ability in relation to the different registers required (scientific, didactic, popular); critical ability to link events and to interpret the available sources; ability to elaborate digital content and to communicate through various types of media. Career possibilities: writer; editor of critical and didactic texts in the historical area; editor in historical magazines, both print and web; TV author for documentaries and historical programmes; author for multimedia productions.

3. Corporate heritage manager Function in a working context: Management and communication of corporate heritage within companies, banks, corporate foundations, organisation and management of corporate museums and archives; management of relations with the public and institutional stakeholders, at national and international level; organisation of events and cultural initiatives; management of internal communication and enhancement of corporate culture. Skills associated with the function: language and communication skills; high-profile historical education; the ability to analyse, classify and relate historical sources of various kinds (industrial projects and objects, administrative and accounting documents); the ability to convey the contents of cultural history in a globalised context; social media management; the ability to understand and mediate between different cultural contexts. Career possibilities: head of corporate archives and museums; head of corporate heritage, corporate image, identity and communication; institutional relations.

4. Researcher in cultural institutions Function in a working context: Cataloguing, inventorying and studying documentary heritage; research activities and dissemination of results to different audiences; fundraising activities through the elaboration of research projects for the participation in national and international competitive tenders. Skills associated with the function: Advanced level historical training applicable to the preservation and management of documentary heritage and to the elaboration of autonomous historical research contributions, mainly in the fields of cultural, intellectual and visual history; project skills suitable for participation in national and international competitive calls; organisational skills in relation to events for the dissemination of research results both scientific and educational. Career possibilities: Research activities and dissemination of results at foundations, research and training centres, documentation centres, especially those endowed with image and photographic archives.

The University of Milan is a public teaching and research university, which - with 8 faculties and 2 schools and a teaching staff of more than 2000 professors - is distinguished by its wide variety of disciplinary fields. A leading institute in Italy and Europe for scientific productivity, the University of Milan is the largest university in the region, with approximately 64,000 students; it is also an important resource for the socio-economic context of which it is a part. Milan is, in fact, the capital of Lombardy, one of the most dynamic and international regions in the European Union, a leader in the national economy that stands at the Italian forefront of research and development investments and commitment to technological innovation.

The University of Milan also possesses a remarkable artistic and cultural heritage that includes important historic buildings, inherited and acquired collections, archives, botanical gardens and the old Brera Observatory commissioned by Maria Teresa of Austria. The University’s departments are housed in important historic edifices in the center of Milan and in modern buildings in the area known as Città Studi (the City of Studies). Among the palazzos that house the University’s facilities are the old Ca' Granda (the big house) – a monumental complex from the 15th-century in the heart of the historical city centre - the 18th-century Palazzo Greppi designed by Giuseppe Piermarini – who built the Scala Theatre in Milan – and the 17th-century Sant’Alessandro College commissioned by the Arcimboldi family. The book collection , which is one of the richest in the region, is preserved in 47 libraries, while the APICE Centre collects rare and valuable book stocks and archives. The University also has a Choir and its own Orchestra, which actively contributes to the cultural life of the city and receives international acknowledgments on an increasingly frequent basis.