Core modules (35 EC)

Five modules will be offered as essential core modules. These are:

• Professional development
  This module focuses on the museum worker as a professional and on the museum as a professional organisation.
  
• Collection development
  Collection development is about optimising the collection according to the mission statement of the museum.
  
• Audience development
  This module analyses the role between museums and society. The focus is on knowledge of the audience, its composition, its expectations and behaviour.
  
• Product development
  This module focuses on developing an integrative perspective on the output of a museum. The classical products of a museum are exhibitions and educational projects. Nowadays, other products, like a restaurant and product shop, are contributing to the financial revenues.
  
• Sustainable development
  This workshop will work with a two-fold approach: the role of heritage in societal development; and the sustainable development of museums, heritage organizations and the museum profession itself

The general purpose of the core modules is:

• to heighten awareness of the current social, political and economic forces at work in the museum and heritage field and the impact these forces had, have and will have in the future;
• to develop a thorough understanding of current theories with regard to the role and functioning of museums;
• to increase the ability to identify, describe and analyse trends in museum work.

The objectives of the core modules are:

• to enable the student to give a general account of the history of museums and the museum profession;
• to recognise ideological biases in museum practice, and to propose improvements following the principles of ICOM Code of Professional Ethics;
• to describe and analyse the social role and the physical and organisational structure of a museum as well.

Five modules will be offered as essential Core Modules over a period of four to five weeks. The weekly schedule consists of a lecture, two workshops or seminars, each lasting approximately three hours.

In total, students are required to attend classes for two or three days a week and include excursions, which form an important part of the programme, as applied learning on location. On completion of each module students are required to produce a piece of assessed work. This can take the form of an oral presentation, an oral or written examination or a final paper. Exemptions may be granted. Successful completion of a module will be awarded with a Reinwardt Museology Certificate. Each module is the equivalent of study work-load of 200 hours, including individual private study.

Students are expected to prepare for lectures and workshops/seminars by reading and studying literature. They will at times be asked to prepare a short presentation on a specific topic. Students can communicate with lecturers via the intranet.