Course description

This postgraduate course in Museum Studies is designed to connect rigorous academic research with the practical skills needed to thrive in today’s museums, galleries, and heritage organisations. Taught by internationally recognised staff at Leicester—a global leader in Museum Studies—the programme blends theory and practice to prepare you for a wide range of careers in the sector.

Through this course, you will:

• Explore the foundations of Museum Studies
  You will challenge your assumptions about what museums are and why they matter. Through critical discussion and skills workshops, you will develop core research and professional abilities that will support you throughout your studies and your career. You will also examine museums in their global cultural, social, and historical contexts to consider how policy, justice, ethics, and digital innovation shape institutions today.
• Work with objects and collections
  From their histories and cataloguing practices to questions of ownership, rights, and care, you will investigate how collections are created and managed. Alongside critical debates, you will gain hands-on experience in handling, documenting, packing, and caring for objects, while reflecting on the changing values and meanings attached to them.
• Engage audiences and communities
  You will explore how museums act as agents of social change, engaging with contemporary debates on activism, human rights, and social justice. At the same time, you will develop practical expertise in museum communication, exhibition-making, and participatory approaches. Studio workshops and collaboration with museum professionals will give you the chance to design and install an exhibition.
• Develop a specialism
  An intensive teaching block allows you to focus on an area of your choice—such as heritage, museum education, curating art, the digital world, or the natural environment—to tackle emerging themes like digital transformation and sustainability.
• Gain professional experience
  Through an eight-week placement in a museum, gallery, or heritage site, you will apply your learning in practice. Working on a project devised with your host institution, you will find yourself caring for collections, developing an education programme, or experimenting with digital tools. A Career Development Programme runs alongside your taught modules to prepare you for employment in the sector.
• Undertake independent research
  You will complete a major research project on a topic of your choice, supported by expert supervision. This could take the form of a dissertation, a professional report, a critique, or even a film. Depending on the focus of your project, you can graduate with either a Master of Arts (MA) or a Master of Science (MSc). Alternatively, you may choose to complete the taught modules only and graduate with a Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip).

Who teaches the course?

You will engage with a world-renowned faculty that combines scholarly authority with real-world experience. Our faculty bring to the course exceptional expertise across critical areas including critical heritage studies; social justice; digital museology; art and its institutions; museum learning and education. The research of our faculty has played a leading role in the reinvention of museum theory and practice internationally and is consistently top-ranking in the UK. The course curriculum is continuously informed by our research. In addition, distinguished scholars and museum professionals frequently deliver invited lectures and seminars.

Why choose this course?

By the end of the programme, you will have:

• a critical understanding of museums in global context
• practical skills in collections, communication, and public engagement
• specialist knowledge tailored to your interests
• real-world experience through a placement
• a substantial piece of independent research, and
• membership of our international alumni network, Museum Studies Connect.

You will graduate equipped to make a meaningful contribution to museums and cultural organisations worldwide, whether as a professional practitioner, researcher, or innovator shaping the future of the field.

Entry requirements

Related courses

Work placement

All students on our campus-based masters programmes undertake an 8 week, full-time, work placement between July and September. This placement is a highlight of the year and it provides valuable sector experience and network building opportunities. It also enables you to apply the skills and knowledge that you have been developing throughout the course and it facilitates a smooth transition from postgraduate student life into work in the cultural sector.

Find out more about the work placement