School of Museum Studies

MA/MSc/PG Dip - Museum Studies

Welcome Book 2021/22

www.le.ac.uk/museumstudies

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Welcome to the School of Museum Studies Welcome to the School of Museum Studies. We are delighted that you have decided to come to Leicester for the 2021/22 academic year. You should feel very proud to have secured a place on such a competitive programme of study. The School is a dynamic and exciting place to study museums, galleries and heritage and I’m sure the year ahead will be no exception.

Undoubtedly, you will have questions about the year and about being in Leicester. That is why in this Welcome Book you will find sections on:

• Key contacts

• Our School

• Our students

• What to expect

• Practicalities

• Things to do before you arrive

• Who we are

Please remember that we are here to help and if you have any queries whatsoever, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Best wishes – we look forward to meeting you in person on 27th September.

Sandra Dudley Head of School

Cover Image: The Museum of World War II in Gdansk (Muzeum II Wojny Światowej) by Jroepstorff [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-

sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

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Key contacts Your principal point of contact for any enquiries related to your application to study with us is the Postgraduate Admissions Office. This is the office that will confirm your offer of a place on the course and it is to them that you should send any outstanding supporting documents that may be required in order for an unconditional offer to be made. Once you have been made a conditional or unconditional offer, it is essential that you inform the Postgraduate Admissions Office that you wish to accept the offer as soon as possible. Competition for places on our courses is great, so if you do not accept the offer that we make it is possible that your place may go to another applicant.

It is also essential that you inform the office if you change your e-mail address, postal address or other contact details prior to arriving in Leicester. We will be contacting you with further information before the course starts so please make sure that we always have your most up to date contact details.

You can contact the Postgraduate Admissions Office in the following ways:

e-mail: pgadmissions@le.ac.uk

Post: Admissions Office University of Leicester University Road Leicester LE1 7RH United Kingdom

Other information about what to do after you have applied is available on this web page: www2.le.ac.uk/study/postgrad/how-to-apply/after-applying

Other offices of the University are well placed to deal with any specific queries you may have on a range of issues that are not directly related to your studies in the School. These include the Accommodation Office (University owned accommodation), Student and Academic Services (central registration procedures), and the International Office (visa enquiries, recognition of international awards). Each of these offices has a website which describes what they do and how to contact them:

Accommodation Office: www.le.ac.uk/offices/accommodation

Student and Academic Services: www2.le.ac.uk/offices/sas2

International Office: www2.le.ac.uk/offices/international

Finally, Gurpreet (Bob) Ahluwalia is the Course Administrator for your course and is happy to answer any general enquiries you may have regarding your studies within the School. If you have a more complex query Gurpreet may refer you to the programme director for the particular course you are interested in.

You can contact Gurpreet (Bob) Ahluwalia in the following ways:

e-mail: gsa1@le.ac.uk

Phone: +44 (0)116 252 3972

Post: School of Museum Studies University of Leicester Museum Studies Building 19 University Road Leicester LE1 7RF

You can also keep up to date with developments in the School through our web site, which you will find at: www.le.ac.uk/museumstudies

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Our School The School of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester is known simply as ‘Leicester’ by museum professionals and researchers in the field of museum studies around the world. For over 40 years it was known as the Department of Museum Studies before changing its name to the School of Museum Studies in 2009. It is seen as the international home of museum studies and was the first Department of Museum Studies in the world. It remains the only such autonomous School of Museum Studies in the United Kingdom. The School has an outstanding international reputation for its teaching and research. In addition to full-time Masters programmes, the School also runs full-time and part-time PhD programmes and distance learning Masters programmes that cater for around 330 students.

In 2009 the School moved to a newly refurbished home on University Road having undergone an extensive £1.5 million refurbishment. This building hosts all of the School’s teaching and support staff, in addition to three purpose built teaching spaces and exhibition and display areas. The building is located a few hundred metres from the main campus in a leafy, quiet, conservation area. Students wishing more bustle can find it on the University campus or in the nearby city centre. The vast majority of teaching takes place within the School with some teaching also taking place in museums and galleries around the country. The

University has an excellent library, which underwent a multi-million pound expansion and refurbishment winning numerous architectural awards along the way.

The School is committed to fostering creativity and values the perspectives of individuals. We have created programmes that are student centred and enable you to locate and pursue your own career objectives. The School exists to help museums develop a new vision, to become better at what they do, and to protect what they have. Leicester’s role is to develop and nurture bright, creative individuals with new ideas capable of leading change within museums and galleries. In attempting to achieve such things the School never loses sight of the fact that life (including learning) should be fun!

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Our students We recognise that one of the most rewarding aspects of your studies will be the opportunity to meet and study with some fantastic fellow students. Since you may be a little nervous about meeting a large number of new people for the first time, it is worth saying a little bit about the group here so you will have some idea of what to expect when you arrive.

Firstly, all of our students are highly motivated to study. Many have made sacrifices in order to come to Leicester and all show a great deal of commitment to the course and are determined to be successful on it. Some students come with a record of high academic achievement whilst others have achieved more modest results during their undergraduate studies. Some come with a great deal of museum/gallery experience gained over a number of years whilst others may have had a small amount of voluntary experience.

The age range of our students varies, from those coming straight from an

undergraduate degree (21-22 years old) to more mature students with professional experience (30-40+). The average age is probably somewhere in the mid-twenties. Our students typically come from the UK and a range of other countries in continental Europe, East Asia (China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea) and North America (USA, Canada). The large majority of our students are female. The student intake numbers for 2020/21 were around 45 for the Museum Studies programme and around 22 for the Art Museum and Gallery Studies programme and 2021/22 intake numbers are likely to be similar.

The important thing to remember is that all our students bring with them a wealth and variety of knowledge, ideas and opinions which make studying at Leicester a truly enriching experience for all. You are sure to make plenty of friends here, some of whom will become life-long professional contacts.

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What to expect It's a very busy school with lots going on. In addition to full-time Masters programmes, the School also runs distance learning Masters programmes that cater for around 250 students. A substantial number of research students also study with the School for their PhD’s. You will come into contact with some of these students at various points during the course, for example during the Study Skills Support Group sessions.

The School has 18 members of full-time academic staff. Of course, all members of the academic staff are engaged in their own leading edge research, which leads to many of the books, and papers you will be using on your course. Although our academic staff are often very busy, we operate an ‘open door’ policy in the School and you are welcome to contact any member of staff.

The atmosphere in the School is frenetic, but friendly. We believe that the relationship between students and staff is important and should be mutually respectful but informal; all staff prefer to be addressed by their first names.

Teaching methods As described above, the School is fortunate to have some wonderful teaching spaces that are put to good use using a variety of teaching methods. Whole group lectures are accommodated in our Lecture Hall when traditional lecture style is the most appropriate means of delivery for the subject matter being covered at the time. These whole group lectures are supported by supplementary learning materials placed in the School’s Wordpress site before and after the lecture itself. Routinely, Powerpoint slides are placed in Wordpress which can give you the opportunity to catch up on any details from the lecture that you

may have missed, or to follow up on any suggested reading. This style of teaching is often most appropriate to accommodate the wide range of ‘visiting speakers’ that form an essential part of the curriculum. These speakers are experts from the museum sector and often hold very senior positions in some of the best museums in the UK and beyond.

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When the style of teaching requires a smaller group this takes place in the Learning Studio. Seminar groups involve more Interactive and collaborative exchanges where students themselves lead discussions on various topics. Where the teaching is of a more practical ‘hands on’ style, such as in the care of collections teaching in Module 3, the Collections Room is used for practical workshops. At various points in the course and most extensively during the Module 4 exhibition design project, you will be involved in group work using one of the spaces around the School building. Of course, the individual and specialised nature of the Module 7 research project will require individual tutorials with your dissertation supervisor.

In addition to these traditional teaching methods here in the School, every module contains 1 or 2 study visits where all students are transported to a museum or gallery to carry out learning activities within the museum related to the curriculum. In 2019/20 (pre-covid), students took part in study visits to: The RAF Museum Hendon, Derby Museum and Art Gallery, National Space Centre, Manchester Art Gallery, the Manchester Museum, Tate Modern, The Hepworth Wakefield, to name but a few. There are no additional charges for these study visits.

Student Support Shortly after you arrive here in Leicester you will be allocated a ‘Personal Tutor’ from amongst the academic staff. Your tutor has responsibility for ensuring your smooth academic progress throughout the course. In addition to the five scheduled tutorials that take place at key points throughout the year, your tutor is available for further appointments should you need them to talk about essay feedback, research topics, work placement choice or any other academic matters.

The School’s Museum Liaison and Employability Officers – Sarah Allard and Ginny Copley have responsibility for ensuring that students access any academic support necessary throughout their time on the course. They convene the Student/Staff Committee and Museum Society and are available to assist students with any issue that may have an impact upon their studies.

English language support We are delighted to welcome a number of students on the course each year from a variety of different countries and value the interesting and unique contributions they can make to the course. We recognise that a good proportion of these students are not native English speakers and may be using English as a second or even third language, we therefore work very hard to provide any additional language support they may require.

In term one and two the university’s English Language Teaching Unit (ELTU) provides a course in Academic Writing for Museum Studies Postgraduates that is available to all students who are not native English speakers. Classes are compulsory for all students with an IELTS score below 7.0, or who attended the pre-sessional English classes run by the ELTU. These sessions are specific to the course curriculum, integrated in the timetable, and are provided at no additional cost. Other classes and online language resources are available through the ELTU and the University’s virtual learning environment - Blackboard.

Unlike other University Schools we also require that students possess a good level of spoken English in order to take part in the placement module (Practice). The ELTU offers an ‘English for Employment’ course to support this. If appropriate we may also suggest sources of support within the University to improve your spoken English.

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Support for students with specific learning difficulties and/or disabilities The School and the University are committed to supporting students with specific learning difficulties and/or disabilities throughout their studies. If you know you have a specific learning difficulty (e.g. dyslexia) and/or a disability that may affect your studies, and would like to tell us about this, please contact Sarah Allard (sa563@le.ac.uk) as soon as possible before you start your studies. Sarah is the School’s AccessAbility Tutor and can liaise with the University’s AccessAbility Centre to ensure that appropriate support provision is in place before you start your studies.

Details of the services provided by the University’s AccessAbility Centre are available here: www.le.ac.uk/offices/ssds/accessability

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Practicalities

The Academic year The academic year consists of three terms:

Term 1: 27 September 2021 - 17 December 2021

Term 2: 10 January 2022 – 1 April 2022

Term 3: 2 May 2022* - 10 June 2022 *2nd May is a Bank Holiday and so teaching will start on the 3rd of May

Module 1: The Museum and Change takes place in Weeks 10-12. The module begins with an Induction Week that will introduce you to postgraduate study, the course, our teaching staff and our research. Following Induction, the module will introduce you to key concepts and themes that will be developed across the programme. You will consider the role of museums in society and their relationships to other institutions, organisations and agencies. Module 1 is assessed by a 2000-word essay or equivalent piece of work.

Module 2: Developing Professional Expertise takes place in Weeks 14-16. In this module you will have the opportunity to develop your research and professional skills. You will explore themes and topics such as acquisition ethics; budgeting for exhibitions; and disaster management. This module is assessed by a 2000-word portfolio consisting of a series of small project briefs, including a sector relevant CV.

Module 3: Objects and Collections Care, Management, and Curation takes place in Weeks 18-20. In this module you will critically engage with the materiality of objects and collections and develop practical skills in collections care and management. This is a hands-on, workshop-based module that will introduce you to objects and collections within the University of Leicester. The written assessment is 2000-word object acquisition proposal.

Module 4: Designing for Creative Lives takes place in Weeks 24-26. This module focuses on public engagement and considers the role of museums in enriching lives. You will actively engage with contemporary social issues and consider the role of activist practice, community participation, and dialogue with diverse audiences. The module is assessed by a 2000-word report or equivalent piece of work.

Module 5: Engaging Audiences takes place in Weeks 28-30. In this module you will be introduced to theories of learning, media and design. Working in small groups, you will explore aspects of the design process, interpretation and the visitor experience. The module is assessed by an individual presentation.

Module 6: Specialisms takes place from Week 32-34. This module provides you with an opportunity to develop expertise within a particular area of museum studies, such as the natural environment, heritage, education, the role of collections in the development of modern knowledge, or the digital world. This module is assessed by a 2000-2500 word report, or equivalent piece of work.

Module 7: Research begins at the end of Term 2 and continues with regular meetings with your project supervisor throughout Term 3, until the submission date (18/07/22). This module allows you to conduct an original piece of research within the field of museology, during which you will draw on a variety of sources such as current museum studies literature, primary materials, practical experiments, collection visits, interviews, and observation. The project can be written up in a variety of forms including an 8000-word dissertation, a sector-facing report, or a proposal.

Module 8: Practice is the final element of the course and takes place during July and August. The Practice module is an 8-week placement in a museum, art gallery, archive, library or comparable institution. This is assessed via short progress reports of around 300 words and a final 1000-word reflective statement.

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A Career Development Programme forms another strand of the Museum Studies curriculum. This will prepare you for the placement and help you to develop the kind of professional skills and knowledge necessary to give yourself the best possible chance of gaining employment after graduation.

When choosing accommodation and signing contracts please note that it is highly likely that you will be living outside Leicester on the placement module from 18/07/2022 – 09/09/2022. A very small number of work placements are within Leicester or within commuting distance of Leicester, but the vast majority are not. Do not commit to accommodation in Leicester for this period unless you are completely sure that you will be staying here.

Timetable and attendance A timetable for the first week of term (27/09/21-1/10/21) will be e-mailed to you in early September so that you can plan your attendance in the first week and make appropriate travel arrangements. You will be provided with access to a full timetable when you arrive on the first day of term – Monday 27th September - which will give details of all taught sessions for the whole year. Taught sessions are usually programmed between 9:00am – 5:00pm, Monday - Friday, it is therefore essential that you are available during these times. Occasionally students will be required to attend the University slightly earlier and/or slightly later, in particular for study visits which sometimes depart the University as early as 7:30am and may return after 7:00pm. The timetable allows plenty of time for you to engage in private study, library research and essay writing in between taught sessions. On average, you can expect to attend something in the region of 10-12 hours of taught sessions per week, usually delivered on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Some of our students do get involved in extra-curricular activities or part-time work at evenings and weekends during term-time, however this can be quite challenging due to the large academic demands of the course. If you think you may need to work during the course for financial reasons, the best time to do this would be during holiday periods or the dissertation period (21/03/22 – 15/7/22) when you will have a good deal of flexibility over how you organise your study time. Please also be aware that Placement

interviews will take place during April and May. Please do not plan extended holidays (more than two weeks) during this time.

Attendance at all taught sessions is compulsory and is monitored via a swipe card system.

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Registration Registration with the University takes place online from mid-September onwards, you will be told how to do this in due course. The online registration process involves the checking of your academic entry requirements and the payment of fees. If you have been given a conditional offer and/or are unable to pay your fees online you may be asked to contact the University Registry directly. If for any reason you have a problem with registering on-line, we can direct you to the Registry when you arrive on the first day of term.

By this time you should have been issued with your student identity card. This card is very important because it allows you to borrow books from the university library, acts as a security pass to give you access to the secure areas within the School and is also the attendance swipe card. To avoid any delay in receiving your pass, please make sure that you submit a photo to the University well before the first day of term.

The placement module: ‘Practice’ As you know, you will undertake an eight week work placement as part of your course, known as Practice. Over many years we have created an extensive network of museums, galleries and related organisations with whom we work closely on providing interesting, challenging and worthwhile work placements. Our contacts will be sending us details of the projects they would like Leicester students to undertake in 2021/2022 and these will be available for your consultation in semester 2 via a dedicated WordPress site. Please note that the work placement is unpaid and students must find and pay for their own accommodation during this period, as well as any associated travel costs. There is no need for you to do anything now; you will be given full details of the placement opportunities in due course.

You can however begin to acquaint yourself with some of the museums and galleries which form part of the network, as listed below. Remember this is just a selection of our network members, and opportunities do vary from year to year.

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford Ikon Gallery Royal College of Physicians, London

Attenborough Arts, Leicester Imperial War Museum Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain

Beamish Museum Limited Kettering Museum & Art Gallery Roman Baths Museum

Ben Uri Gallery & Museum Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge Royal Albert Memorial Museum

Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery Lakeland Arts Royal Pump Room Museum

Brighton & Hove Museums Leicester City Museum Service Rugby Art Gallery & Museum

Bristol’s Museums Galleries & Archives LifeSpace Dundee Science Museum, London

Black Country Living Museum London Transport Museum Sheffield Galleries & Museum Trust

British Museum, London Manchester Museum of Science & Industry

Staffordshire County Arts & Museum Service

Cardiff Story Museum Museum of London Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust

Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art Museums Sheffield Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew

Culture Coventry National Civil War Centre The British Library, London

De La Warr Pavilion National Gallery, London The Hepworth Wakefield

Edinburgh Museum National Museum Wales The Lakeland Arts Trust

FACT Liverpool National Museums of Scotland The McManus, Dundee's Art Gallery and Museum

Falmouth Art Gallery National Museums, Liverpool The Royal Artillery Museum, Firepower

Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge National Trust The World Rugby Museum

Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) Natural History Museum, London Touchstones Rochdale

Geffrye Museum NEoN Digital Arts Festival V&A Museum of Childhood, London

Glasgow Museums New Art Gallery Walsall Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Hackney Museum North of England Zoological Society, Chester Zoo William Morris Gallery

Hampton Court Palace Nottingham Contemporary Wolverhampton Art Gallery & Museum

Haslemere Educational Museum Nottingham City Museums & Galleries Worcester Medical Museums

Hull Museums Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool York Museums Trust, York Art Gallery

Imperial War Museum Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Headland Exhibition Design Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford

Herbert Art Gallery & Museum Primary, Nottingham

Horniman Museum, London Reading Museum Service

Hospitalfield Arts, Arbroath Redbridge Museum

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Things to do before you arrive There are many things you can do in the weeks ahead that will help you settle into your studies in the School. Here are some of them:

• Go through the reading list, which follows. Read as many of these classic texts as you can. Do you know of any more? If so, start your own bibliography.

• Visit museums you are not familiar with, perhaps in a different subject area to your own or a type you don't know well. So if you are an archaeologist, how about looking at a gallery of contemporary sculpture? If you are an art person - visit a geology gallery. If you have only ever visited national museums, visit small independent ones for a change.

• Think about museum and gallery provision. What are museums doing or not doing right now?

• Talk to people about museums: what they like/don't like about them, why they go/don't go.

• Put a file together of material on museums and galleries; add to it newspaper reports or photocopies of articles you find interesting.

• If you are coming to Leicester from overseas, you will find it helpful to bring a file of materials on museums in your own country. This can be used in your assignments and in your discussions with other students.

• Why not join the Museums Association, or its equivalent in your own country? You will need to keep up to date on what is happening in museums and this is an excellent way of doing so. It will also help you keep an eye on the job market.

• Carry out some internet research to find out more about being a student in Leicester. Explore some of the University’s web pages (www.le.ac.uk), and some websites about Leicester more generally (www.goleicestershire.com). Take a birds eye and street level view of your new surroundings (maps.google.co.uk).

Introductory reading

Dudley, S. (ed.), Museum Objects (London: Routledge, 2012)

Hooper-Greenhill, E., Museums and the Interpretation of Visual Culture (London: Routledge, 2000)

MacLeod, S., Hale, J. & Hanks, L. (eds.) Museum Making: Narratives, Architectures, Exhibitions (London: Routledge, 2012)

Message, K. & Witcomb, A. Museum Theory: An Expanded Field (Wiley Blackwell, International Handbooks of Museum Studies, 2015)

Sandell, R.P., Museums, Prejudice and the Reframing of Difference (London: Routledge, 2006)

Parry, R. (ed.), Museums in a Digital Age (London: Routledge, 2009)

Watson, S. (ed.), Museums and their Communities (London: Routledge, 2007)

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Who we are Further details can be found on our staff web pages: http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/museumstudies/about-the-school/people

Name Position

Professor Sandra Dudley Director and Head of School; Professor of Museum Anthropology Gurpreet (Bob) Ahluwalia Programme Administrator Sarah Allard Dr Gemma Angel Dr Jennifer Bergevin Dr Stacy Boldrick Dr Katy Bunning Dr Yunci Cai Professor Simon Knell Yvonne Lee Professor Suzanne MacLeod

Museum Liaison and Employability Officer Programme Director, Museum Studies; Lecturer in Museum Studies Programme Director, Socially Engaged Practice; Co-lead Distance Learning Programme Director, Art Museum and Gallery Studies Co-lead Distance Learning; Lecturer in Museum Studies Lecturer in Museum Studies Professor of Contemporary Museology Operations Manager Professor of Museum Studies; Director of Flexible Learning

Dr Nuala Morse Lecturer in Museum Studies Professor Ross Parry Deputy Head of School; Professor of Museum Technology Dr Sarah Plumb Research Associate, RCMG Professor Richard Sandell Dr Rosemary Shirley

Professor of Museum Studies Academic Director; Associate Professor of Museum Studies

Dr Alice Tilche Lecturer in Museum Studies Dr David Unwin Senior Tutor (personal tutoring support); Associate Professor of Museum

Studies Dr Giasemi Vavoula Dr Sarina Wakefield

Deputy Head of School; Research Director; Associate Professor of Museum Studies Lecturer in Museum Studies

Dr Sheila Watson Programme Director, Heritage and Interpretation; Associate Professor of Museum Studies

Dr Isobel Whitelegg Director of Postgraduate Research; Lecturer in Art Museum & Gallery Studies

Until September…. If you feel this is all getting a little complicated - don't worry. When you arrive you will be given access to a detailed timetable for the entire year and the course website which covers just about everything you need to know to get you started. Alongside introductions to each module and a plethora of teaching materials the website hosts a wide range of resources including a handbook, details of the Museum Society (a social group run by students), and all sorts of helpful information such as a ‘keywords’ guide, sign-up links, and how to look after your health and well-being. In any event, the first week of the programme is given over to induction sessions and will give you lots of time to orientate yourself and to ask questions.

We aim to provide you with an exciting learning environment - lecturers who are passionate about their subjects, a wide range of challenging modules, facilities in which to explore ideas and arguments, and access to museums and museum people through our visiting speaker programme and museum visits. How much you get out of this is completely up to you. As a postgraduate student, we expect you to take the initiative in your own learning and to take responsibility for how much you are prepared to learn. There will be essays, projects, discussions and study visits. We expect a high standard in all academic work and our students rarely disappoint us in this.

We all look forward to seeing you in September for what will be a wonderful year.