Master of Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies (Professional)

2025 Deakin University Handbook

Year	2025 course information
Award granted	Master of Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies (Professional)
Deakin course code	A768I
Faculty	Faculty of Arts and Education
Campus	Offered at Burwood (Melbourne)
Online	Yes
Duration	2 years full-time or part-time equivalent
Course Map - enrolment planning tool	This course map is for new students commencing from Trimester 1 2025. Course maps for commencement in previous years are available on the Course Maps webpage or please contact a Student Adviser in Student Central.
CRICOS course code	102878H Burwood (Melbourne)
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 (Professional) allows you to specialise in the areas you want to take your career. You’ll develop the knowledge, research skills and practical experience to make a difference in the way communities engage with the past.

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

Cultural heritage and museum studies has been taught at Deakin for over
40-years, making it the largest and longest running program of its kind in Australia. 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 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 degree.

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 themes and include:

Intangible Cultural Heritage
World Heritage
Digital Interpretation
Sustainability and Human Rights in Heritage and Museums
Museums, Heritage and Society
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 the World Heritage listed Port Arthur Historic Site in Tasmania. You can also choose to complete an internship unit where you will undertake a professional work placement with a host organisation in Australia or overseas. This experience will help you develop the skills you need, whether you’re changing or progressing your career, gain industry knowledge, and extend your professional network.

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 more 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 seeking 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 a PhD through research training.

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. Assess the role of cultural heritage in the context of modern organisations and society in order to add value
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 within organisational and societal contexts to evaluate issues and problems in professional practice and scholarship
Problem solving	Apply expert knowledge to critically analyse, and develop innovative and independently and collaboratively 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 critical reflection and use frameworks of self evaluation to develop independent judgment, adaptability and responsibility for expert professional practice and / or scholarship.
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	Engage ethically and professionally when working in a variety of cultural heritage and museum studies situations through concern for legal, economic, environmental and social risks both nationally and globally

Approved at Faculty Board 2020

Course rules

To complete the Master of Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies (Professional) students must pass 16 credit points and meet the following course rules to be eligible to graduate:

DAI001 Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin (0-credit-point compulsory unit) in their first study period
7 credit points of core units
9 credit points of study 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 course electives (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.

Course structure

Core units

AIM708

World Heritage

AIM709

Intangible Cultural Heritage

AIM715

Digital Interpretation

AIM720

Sustainability and Human Rights in Heritage and Museums

AIM736

Museums, Heritage and Society

AIM733

Applied Heritage Project *

APE700

Internship A

*Trimester 3 study required

Pathways

Minor Thesis - PhD Pathway

AIX706

Research Design

Plus 2 credit points of research units:

AIX704

Minor Thesis A

AIX705

Minor Thesis B

Plus 6 credit points chosen from course electives, including up to 3 open electives as agreed with the course director.

Research Paper – non PhD Pathway^

AIX701

Research Paper

Plus 8 credit points chosen from course electives, including up to 3 open electives as agreed with the course director.

Professional Experience – non PhD Pathway^

APE701

Internship Capstone (2 credit points)

Plus 7 credit points chosen from course electives, including up to 3 open electives as agreed with the course director.

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

Course Electives

AIM703

Heritage Practice: Conservation and Managing Change

AIM705

Heritage Practice: Fundamentals

AIM719

Cultural Heritage and Museum Practice

AIM722

Managing Collections

AIM727

Developing Exhibitions

AIX706

Research Design

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

Work experience

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

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.

Research and research-related study

Independent research components are embedded across a number of units.

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.