Master of Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies

2025 Deakin University Handbook

Year	2025 course information
Award granted	Master of Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies
Deakin course code	A768
Faculty	Faculty of Arts and Education
Campus	Offered at Burwood (Melbourne)
Online	Yes
Duration	The time and cost could be reduced based on your previous qualifications and professional experience. This means you can fast track the masters degree from 1.5 years down to 1 year duration. See entry requirements below for more information.
Course Map - enrolment planning tool	These course maps are for new students commencing from Trimester 1 2025: Course Electives only Collections and Curatorship Heritage Practice Course maps for commencement in previous years are available on the Course Maps webpage or please contact a Student Adviser in Student Central.
Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) recognition	The award conferred upon completion is recognised in the Australian Qualifications Framework at Level 9

Course sub-headings

Course overview

The Master of Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies allows you to specialise in the areas you want to take your career into. You’ll develop the knowledge, research skills and practical experience to make a difference in the way we engage with our past.

Do you have a passion for the past and how it impacts the present?

Cultural heritage and museum studies at Deakin is the largest and longest running program of its kind in Australia, with over 40-years of experience. All units are developed and taught by leading academics with industry experience.

Whether you want to create exhibitions, manage a museum or heritage site, safeguard Indigenous cultural heritage, support the conservation of intangible cultural heritage or protect and interpret significant objects, buildings, sites and landscapes, you will have the ability to tailor your studies to these disciplines throughout your masters.

During your studies, you will explore traditions and living examples of culture, and focus on current social, environmental and political concerns.

The core units you will study are built around these categories and include:

Intangible Cultural Heritage
Sustainability and Human Rights in Heritage and Museums
Research Design

You’ll also choose up to four elective units based on your interests and use them to form a specialisation in Collections and Curatorship or Heritage Practice. A specialisation isn’t compulsory but can signal to potential employers the type of career you want and your professional interests.

Work-integrated learning is featured throughout the masters, including the Applied Heritage Project unit, which offers a week-long study intensive at sites like Port Arthur. You can also choose to complete an internship unit where you will undertake a professional work placement within a host organisation in Australia or overseas. This experience helps you to develop the skills you need, whether changing or progressing your career, gain industry knowledge and extend your professional networks.

For the opportunity to expand your networks further and graduate with a two Masters degree, you might want to consider applying for our dual award in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies and World Heritage Studies. Deakin partners with Brandenburg University of Technology (BTU) in Cottbus-Seftenberg, Germany, to deliver a dual-award program where you will graduate with BTU’s Master of World Heritage alongside your Deakin masters degree, highlighting the global reputation of our course. This competitive entry dual award opens overseas study opportunities and valuable professional experience.

Career opportunities

By researching the past, you will be contributing to making it accessible in the present – leading to stronger community engagement and a deeper understanding of how cultures have come to be. More than ever, society is wanting to gain a better understanding of the past and to create positive change in the present – something you can be a part of with the expertise you will develop.

Opening a broad range of roles both locally and abroad, your future roles could include:

heritage officer
heritage site or museum manager/director
interpretation officer
registrar
curator
public programs officer
exhibition officer
researcher
project officer.

Completion of the course can be used as a pathway to PhD through research training and a two-credit point research minor thesis.

The graduate certificate and graduate diploma elements of the cultural heritage and museum studies suite are possible early exits, both giving you a solid foundation of knowledge to confidently apply for entry-level roles.

For more information go to DeakinTALENT.

Participation requirements

Reasonable adjustments to participation and other course requirements will be made for students with a disability. More information available at Disability support services.

Mandatory student checks

Any unit which contains work integrated learning, a community placement or interaction with the community may require a police check, Working with Children Check or other check.

Alternative exits

Graduate Certificate of Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies (A568)
Graduate Diploma of Museum Studies (A668)

Research information

Students will complete a research pathway in 1 of the 3 following options:

Minor Thesis - PhD Pathway
Research Paper – non PhD Pathway^
Professional Experience – non PhD Pathway^.

Course Learning Outcomes

Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes	Course Learning Outcomes
Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities	Research and critically reflect on the diverse tangible and intangible manifestations of social memory as expressed in places and sites, objects, traditional practices and beliefs on a personal and collective level and evaluate different conceptual and practical approaches to its identification, collection, conservation, interpretation, display, management and use.
Communication	Effectively communicate the findings and analysis of cultural heritage and museum studies concepts, theories and applied knowledge, in written, digital and oral formats to specialist and non-specialist audiences.
Digital literacy	Use a range of generic and specialist cultural heritage and museum studies digital technologies and information sources to research, select, analyse, employ, evaluate, and disseminate technical and non-technical information and research outcomes.
Critical thinking	Critically reflect on, research, analyse, evaluate and synthesise key concepts in the identification, collection, conservation, display, interpretation, management, and use of cultural heritage. Apply expert knowledge of, and, technical and creative skills in cultural heritage to evaluate issues and problems in professional practice and scholarship.
Problem solving	Apply expert knowledge to critically analyse, and develop innovative and creative solutions to real-world and ill-defined problems or issues in the identification, collection, conservation, display, interpretation, management and use of cultural heritage.
Self-management	Apply knowledge and skills in creative ways to new situations in professional practice and/or further learning in the field of cultural heritage and museum studies with adaptability, autonomy, responsibility and personal accountability for actions as a critically self-reflexive practitioner and learner.
Teamwork	Apply the principles of effective team work as a reflective team member and/or leader of diverse cultural heritage and museum teams in order to support the team in achieving designated goals.
Global citizenship	Analyse and address cultural heritage issues in the domestic, regional and global context as a critically reflexive scholar and practitioner, taking into consideration cultural and socio-economic diversity, social and environmental responsibility and the application of the highest ethical standards.

Approved at Faculty Board 2020

Course rules

To complete the Master of Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies students must pass 8 or 12 credit points and meet the following course rules to be eligible to graduate. The exact number of credit points you study depends on how much credit you receive as recognition of prior learning (RPL):

DAI001 Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin (0-credit-point compulsory unit) in their first study period
2 credit points of core units
6 or 10 credit points of study (depending upon entry point), from the following:
- one pathway option
  - Minor Thesis - PhD Pathway
  - Research Paper - non-PhD Pathway
  - Professional Experience - non-PhD Pathway
- any remaining credit points can be chosen from the course electives list (course electives may be used to form a specialisation)

Students are required to meet the University's academic progress and conduct requirements. See the enrolment codes and terminology to help make sense of the University’s vocabulary.

Specialisations

Students who complete a specialisation will have the specialisation indicated on their academic transcript

Specialisations are available in the following areas:

Collections and Curatorship

Heritage Practice

Course structure

Core units

AIM709

Intangible Cultural Heritage

AIM720

Sustainability and Human Rights in Heritage and Museums

Pathways

Minor Thesis - PhD Pathway

AIX706

Research Design

Plus 2 credit points of research units:

AIX704

Minor Thesis A

AIX705

Minor Thesis B

Plus 3 or 7 credit points (depending upon entry point) chosen from the specialisations and/or course electives

Research Paper – non PhD Pathway^

AIX701

Research Paper

Plus 5 or 9 credit points (depending upon entry point) chosen from the specialisations and/or course electives

Professional Experience – non PhD Pathway^

APE701

Internship Capstone (2 credit points)

Plus 4 or 8 credit points (depending upon entry point) chosen from the specialisations and/or course electives

^ The Research Paper and Professional Experience options are not PhD Pathways.

Course Electives

AIX706

Research Design

AIM703

Heritage Practice: Conservation and Managing Change

AIM705

Heritage Practice: Fundamentals

AIM708

World Heritage

AIM715

Digital Interpretation

AIM719

Cultural Heritage and Museum Practice

AIM722

Managing Collections

AIM727

Developing Exhibitions

AIM733

Applied Heritage Project

AIM736

Museums, Heritage and Society

APE700

Internship A

2 credit points of the electives may be selected from other Deakin postgraduate units with the approval of the course director.

*students who have previously completed any of these units within the Graduate Certificate of Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies are required to substitute with an alternate unit from the course elective list

Work experience

Elective units may provide the opportunity for Work Integrated Learning experiences.

Details of specialisations

Collections and Curatorship

Overview

Those who would like to work with objects and collections, create ground-breaking exhibitions, or manage museums and galleries can choose the Collections and Curatorship specialisation.

Career outcomes

Graduates can be found working as a curator, museum or gallery manager, collections manager, exhibition officer, interpretation officer, registrar, public programs officer, researcher.

Unit set code

SP-A78601

Units

AIM715

Digital Interpretation

AIM722

Managing Collections

AIM727

Developing Exhibitions

Plus your chosen pathway option

Heritage Practice

Overview

For those whose primary interest lies in looking after significant places such as heritage sites, historic buildings or landscapes, and want to develop practical skills such as heritage assessment/designation, management planning, community engagement or impact assessment can choose the Heritage Practice specialisation.

Career outcomes

Graduates can be found working as a cultural heritage advisor, heritage consultant, heritage officer, heritage planner, heritage policy officer, heritage site manager, heritage project manager, researcher.

Unit set code

SP-A78602

Units

AIM703

Heritage Practice: Conservation and Managing Change

AIM705

Heritage Practice: Fundamentals

AIM708

World Heritage

Plus your chosen pathway option

Course duration

Course duration may be affected by delays in completing course requirements, such as failing of units or accessing or completing placements.

Further information

Student Central can help you with course planning, choosing the right units and explaining course rules and requirements.

Contact Student Central

Other learning experiences

There are options for WIL and study tours across many of the SHSS courses.

Fees and charges

Fees and charges vary depending on the type of fee place you hold, your course, your commencement year, the units you choose to study, and their study discipline or your study load.

Tuition fees increase at the beginning of each calendar year and all fees quoted are in Australian dollars ($AUD). Tuition fees do not include textbooks, computer equipment or software, other equipment or costs such as mandatory checks, travel and stationery.

Estimate your fees

For further information regarding tuition fees, other fees and charges, invoice due dates, withdrawal dates, payment methods visit our Current students website.