Our Programme
Look behind the scenes.
Understand the complexities of Museums.
Gain practical experience.
Programme Structure
The MA in Museum Studies is offered within HKU's University Museum and Art Gallery. In this setting, the program delivers advanced training in the skills and methodologies of five main concentration areas:
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Museum Operations
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Curation
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Education
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Collections Care and Conservation
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Heritage
Coursework emphasizes the historic and future development of museums to prepare the next generation of professionals who will work in visual and material cultural institutions.
The required core course, MUSE7001. Studying Museums: Historical Developments, Ongoing Purposes and Emerging Functions offered in the Fall semester, introduces the historical development, ongoing purpose, and ever-developing functions of museums. Elective courses provide students with the ability to explore all facets of museum operation.
The MA dissertation is a capstone course in which students develop a specialist area of research under the guidance of expert supervisors. Students may elect to do a professional work placement or one additional MA elective course offered by the MA in the field of Museum Studies.
Curriculum Requirements (63 total credits)
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1 required core course (Fall)
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4 elective MA courses
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1 MA dissertation
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1 Professional Internship or 1 MA elective course offered by the MA in the field of Museum Studies
All classes are 9 credits and instruction is in English. Assessment is 100% coursework, which may include discussion, oral presentations, research essays, and various kinds of short written assignments.
All students will take four elective courses before writing an academic dissertation and participating in practical internships. Upon completing their studies, students will have gained skills in organizing and managing cultural institutions, caring for collections and conservation, and communicating and engaging with the public. A demonstration of how these electives fall into the five main concentration areas appears in the table above.
The calendars below outline when each course will be offered this year. Click on any class block to learn more.