Skip to content

Museum and Heritage Development MA

Apply now Book an open day Get email updates
  • Level of study:
    Masters
  • Entry Requirements:
    More information
  • Start date:
    September 2026
  • Duration:
    One year full-time / two years part-time
  • Attendance:
    Full-time, Part-time
  • Course delivery:
    On-campus (City Campus)
Light Night 2017

About this course

This course will immerse you in the exciting and constantly evolving landscape of cultural heritage, responding to contemporary critical issues within museums and more broadly across the wider heritage sector. Through emphasising creativity, decolonisation, and sustainability, you will graduate as an innovative and confident scholar-practitioner with a global perspective, poised for diverse career paths. Beyond traditional museum and heritage expertise, such as working with collections, audience and community engagement and interpretation, you will also acquire business, leadership, and digital skills.

The course uniquely blends scholarship and creative practice to address global challenges facing cultural institutions. With an inclusive approach, partnerships, and placements with local and national organisations, you will be able to adapt to change and lead innovation across a wide range of forward-thinking employment roles.

Our distinctive teaching methods include live projects, collaborative learning, self-led online learning and industry engagements, enhancing entrepreneurial and digital skills and confidence.

NTU’s Masters degree provides expertise from tutors and industry experts, alongside valuable hands-on experience, which prepares students to understand the realities and challenges of the sector. Finding employment in the heritage and cultural sector is more competitive than ever. In response to this, the course offers opportunities for students to develop their awareness of the practices, skills, approaches and knowledge required for success within the sector today.

Sara Blair-Manning, Chief Executive, Birmingham Botanical Garden

  • Study at leading university

    Top 5 for number of number of postgraduate students studying Heritage (HESA 2024/25).

  • Leading the way in research

    100% of NTU's research in History was assessed to be world-leading or internationally excellent - REF 2021.

  • Learn in a city built on history

    Nottingham is a city steeped in history, with museums and heritage sites on your doorstep.

  • Driving cultural change

    Tackle global challenges through creativity, research, and hands-on experience with industry partners.

Special features

The course responds to contemporary critical issues and focuses on how museum and heritage practice is changing, reflecting on the demands and expectations that this places on the workforce and its development. We help students to develop key personal qualities required of the cultural sector workforce of today and tomorrow, combining core skills training with imaginative creative practice and risk-taking. The course offers a supportive environment for students to explore their own passions and aspirations, helping them to develop their confidence and critical understanding of cultural practice and application. The course is highly collaborative, promoting strong partnerships with museums and heritage organisations and addressing the future needs of the heritage sector and beyond.

Module information

Here’s a breakdown of what you’ll be studying throughout the course:

Core modules

We regularly review our course content based on student and employer feedback to ensure they remain current and relevant. This may result in changes to module content or availability in future years. Optional modules will only run where there is sufficient demand. This will be determined on a case-by-case basis to protect the academic and student experience.

Student experience

  • Museum and Heritage student, Yaxian Wu

    Yaxian Wu

    Museum and Heritage Development student

    “There are not only practical opportunities, but also course modules on the future of museums, museum games, and other aspects involving various fields.”

    Read Yaxian's profile
  • MA Museum and Heritage Development student, Marnie Shell

    Marnie Shell

    Museum and Heritage Development student

    “I was drawn to how practical the course was, with so many opportunities for experience in the field.”

    Read Marnie's profile
  • A photo of a woman smiling

    Tamsin Greaves

    Museum and Heritage Development student

    “The combination of interactive teaching and placements at Southwell Minster and the Bonington Gallery greatly improved my knowledge and confidence and helped me realise I did have transferable skills.”

    Read Tamsin's profile

Discover more about this course

 

How you're taught

Industry Collaboration

Close partnerships with local and national cultural organisations, networking, employment placement opportunities and an international project, in addition to continued skills development (e.g. project management, digital skills) will introduce students to different career pathways and make them dynamic in a fast-changing, digital and global workplace. Students will undertake at least 120 hours of work-like experience. In recent years we have worked with progressive organisations that reflect the diversity of the sector and its workforce: National Trust, Barker Langham (International heritage consultancy), Nottingham City Museums & Galleries, National Justice Museum, Derby Museums, Framework Knitters Museum, Mansfield Museum, Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature, Canalside Heritage Centre, Green’s Windmill and Science Centre and Birmingham Botanical Gardens.

An example of our collaborative research is Planting Stories, with Birmingham Botanical Gardens.

Field trips

Field trips play a key part of the work that we do in understanding the development and structure of heritage management and engagement. Students may be required to contribute up to a maximum of £50 towards travel expenses throughout the course.  Recent field trips have included Pitt Rivers Museum (Oxford), People’s History Museum (Manchester), National Justice Museum (Nottingham), International Slavery Museum (Liverpool), Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Hardwick Hall (Derbyshire) and the internationally acclaimed Museum of Making (Derby).

International Field Visit (Optional)

Exploring diverse cultural landscapes encourages reflection on the role of heritage practices and the global impact of cultural organisations.  To examine international perspectives, there is an opportunity for students to take part in a week-long not-for-credit field trip to a European city during the Spring Term. Together with the students, we develop an itinerary to help shape the visit and respond critically to the many interactive cultural experiences on offer. This field trip is subject to availability and is self-funded.

Work Placements

Students undertake at least 120 hours of work-like experience, including at least 30 hours of work-related learning and a 70 hour placement of their choice in the Transforming Your Career module. Work-related learning is student-led and a core part of active career planning. It could include volunteering, work insights or short consultancy projects.

During the Creative Museum Practice module you will work with communities and partner organisations to develop public-facing resources and media content. And during the Engaging local and global communities and The entrepreneurial museum modules you will take part in a consultancy based project. Work-like experiences may be available in other modules or through knowledge exchange depending on availability.

Past roles have been as diverse as the students and host organisations themselves. They are designed in collaboration with students, academics and our extensive network of cultural partners to ensure a brilliant fit with students’ ambitions, budget and existing commitments. Students have engaged audiences with historic objects, catalogued archival material, designed exhibitions, identified inequalities in collecting to create more diverse collecting policies, researched audience needs, managed social media campaigns, created interpretation and delivered heritage marketing campaigns. Host organisations have included, but are not limited to, independent museums, Local Authority cultural services, historic churches, art galleries, archives, community projects and global heritage consultancy. See the table below for a selection of host organisations.

Recent placements have involved:

  • Curation
  • Master planning and heritage management
  • Collection management and conservation
  • Archival management
  • Audience engagement and research
  • Volunteer management
  • Fundraising, income generation and grant projects
  • Museum education
  • Arts marketing
  • Exhibition design and research
  • Freelancing, working with artists and consulting

Examples of recent placement and volunteer hosts:

  • National Trust, including sites such as The Workhouse and Clumber Park
  • Backlit gallery and studios
  • Mundolingua, Paris
  • Cathedral Church of St Barnabus
  • Leicester Museums & Galleries, including Jewry Wall and Richard III Centre
  • Nottingham Contemporary
  • Bonington Gallery
  • Mansfield Museum
  • D H Lawrence Museum
  • Framework Knitters Museum
  • National Justice Museum
  • Barker Langham (heritage consultancy)
  • Nottingham City Council, including Nottingham Castle, Newstead Abbey and Wollaton Hall
  • Nottinghamshire County Council, including Miner2Major with Sherwood Forest
  • Newark Civil War Centre

Learn a new language

Alongside your study, you also have the opportunity to learn another new language. The University Language Programme (ULP) is available to all students and gives you the option of learning a totally new language or improving the skills you already have. Learning a new language can enhance your communication skills, enrich your experience when travelling abroad and boost your career prospects. Find out more about the University Language Programme.

Active Learning and Professional Development

Our approach to learning and professional development throughout the course is active and hands-on. Students engage with real-world issues and approaches, producing assessed work that includes professional, academic and creative practices. Classroom-based sessions combine debate with workshop activity to put ideas into action, and further workshops support the development and delivery of assessed work.

Research Opportunities

Every student taking the MA delivers a major Research Project at the end of their studies. The whole course and Research Project can act as a foundation for doctoral-level research for those interested in developing their careers in a more academic direction. Our students are successfully pursuing PhDs after the MA.

How you're assessed

Students are assessed through a range of projects appropriate to individual modules. The diversity of our approach to assessment is reflective of the increasing diversity of professional practice within the museums and heritage sector and is undertaken within the spirit of creativity, risk-taking and core skills development. Student work ranges from creative practice assessments such as podcasts, film-making, creative mapping and games, to reports and funding applications. Academic essays provide an intellectual context for the creative projects and reflective practice supports you in your skills development.

Contact hours

For each 20-credit module, you’ll spend about 200 hours learning overall. Around 30 of those hours will be taught in lectures or seminars. The rest of the time is for independent study, reading, research, or working on assignments.

If you’re struggling with a topic or require additional support or guidance, you can arrange to see your tutors in small groups or one-to-one, to discuss essay plans or to seek some specific academic guidance.

Who will teach you?

  • Katharina Massing

    Katharina Massing

    Senior Lecturer

    Dr Katharina Massing is a senior lecturer and researcher in Museum and Heritage Studies. She is Module Leader for several modules in the Museum and Heritage Development Masters course: Global Heritage Management, Engaging Local and Global Communities and Sustainable Heritage, Well-being and Place.

    Visit Katharina Massing's staff profile

  • Charlie Gregson

    Senior Lecturer

    Charlie is a Senior Lecturer in Museum Studies and Course Lead for Nottingham Trent University's Museum and Heritage Development Masters course. Her consultancy and partnership work develops forward-thinking approaches to the strategic management of historic spaces, connecting stakeholders with stories, place and current issues to empower collaboration and social change.

    Visit Charlie Gregson's staff profile

  • Rebekah Pickering Wood

    Senior Lecturer

    Dr Pickering Wood joined the School of Social Sciences at NTU in 2019 and contributes to scholarly activity, module leadership and teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level on BA (Hons) History and MA Museum and Heritage Development. She is also a PhD Supervisor facilitating studies that bridge historical and creative disciplines.

    Visit Rebekah Pickering Wood's staff profile

Entry requirements

UK students

Academic entry requirements: 2.2 honours degree or equivalent in any subject area.

Alternatively, recent practical experience with a professionally run museum or heritage organisation may be considered for applicants without the standard entry qualifications above.

Applications from candidates with non-standard entry qualifications will be considered on an individual basis.

International students

Academic entry requirements: 2.2 honours degree or equivalent in any subject area.

Alternatively, recent practical experience with a professionally run museum or heritage organisation may be considered for applicants without the standard entry qualifications above.

We accept equivalent qualifications from all over the world. Please check your international entry requirements by country.

English language requirements: See our English language requirements page for requirements for your subject and information on alternative tests and Pre-sessional English.

Policies

We strive to make our admissions procedures as fair and clear as possible. To find out more about how we make offers, visit our admissions policies page.

Fees and funding

UK students

- see the fees for this course, as well as information about funding and support.
  • £9,650 per year

Please note that if you are considering a course that runs over more than one year, the tuition fee stated is for the first year of study. The course fee for the second year may be subject to annual review.

Find out about the extra support we may be able to provide to help pay for uni, including scholarships, discounts and loans.

Scholarships

You might be able to get a scholarship to help fund your studies. We award scholarships to those who can demonstrate excellent achievement, passion and dedication to their studies. See which courses are eligible for scholarships.

Alumni discount

We’re happy to offer a 20% alumni discount to most current NTU students and recent NTU alumni. This discount is currently available for those starting an eligible postgraduate taught, postgraduate research or professional course.

Postgraduate loans

There is a government postgraduate loan scheme for Masters degrees. The loan contributes towards costs of study, and students can put it towards tuition fees, maintenance costs or other costs at their discretion. Find out more about postgraduate loans.

International students

- see the fees for this course, as well as payment advice and scholarships.
  • Full-time - £18,300
  • Part-time - £9,150

Please note that if you are considering a course that runs over more than one year, the tuition fee stated is for the first year of study. The course fee for the second year may be subject to annual review.

Find out about the extra support we may be able to provide to help pay for uni, including scholarships, discounts and loans.

Scholarships

You might be able to get a scholarship to help fund your studies. We award scholarships to those who can demonstrate excellent achievement, passion and dedication to their studies. See which courses are eligible for scholarships.

Alumni discount

We’re happy to offer a 20% alumni discount to most current NTU students and recent NTU alumni. This discount is currently available for those starting an eligible postgraduate taught, postgraduate research or professional course.

Living costs

See our advice on managing your money, the cost of living as an international student in Nottingham and how to budget.

Paying fees

As an international student, you'll need to make an advance payment as part of your offer conditions. You'll then need to pay your tuition fees in full, or have an agreement to pay in two further instalments, in order to enrol on the course.

Find out how and when to pay your fees, including information about your advance payment, instalment dates and how to make payments securely to the University.

Enquiries

If you have any queries relating to advance payments or arrangements to pay, please contact our friendly and experienced international enquiries team.

Additional costs

Your course fees cover the cost of studies and include loads of great benefits, such as the use of our library, support from our expert Employability team and free use of the IT equipment across our campuses. There are just a few additional things you may need to budget for:

Textbooks and library books

Your modules will point you to key textbooks and recommended reading. Many are available online, and in our libraries, but some students choose to buy their own copies. You’ll receive resource lists showing where to access eBooks, digital resources and physical copies. Our friendly Library team is always on hand to help you find what you need.

Printing and photocopying costs

The University allocates an annual printing and copying allowance of £20 depending on the course you are studying. For more details about costs for additional print and copying required over and above the annual allowance please see the printing and photocopying information on the Library website.

Field trips

All essential field trip costs will be included in your course fees. There may be the opportunity to take part in optional field trips, which do incur additional costs.

Fees and funding advice

For more advice and guidance, phone the Student Money Team on +44 (0)115 848 2494.

Cost of living information and support

Managing your money can help you make the most of life at NTU. Here's how we can support you, and now you can make your funding go further.

Student looking at clothes in a shop
Cost of living in Nottingham
Two students purchasing drinks
Our student benefits and free services
Two students having a discussion
Money advice for international students

Careers and employability

This course opens opportunities in museum, heritage and arts work such as museum curation, heritage education, visitor service management, fundraising/partnership and arts marketing as well as heritage consultancy. Transferable skills also create wider opportunities in the charity sector and private industry, such as marketing and communications, as well as the education sector and further academic study.

  • Employability Promise

    Personalised support, one-on-one coaching and industry-specific advice – it’s all part of our Employability Promise. And it doesn’t end when you leave NTU – you’ll have access to all our careers services for three years after you graduate (conditions apply).

  • Graduate employers

    Graduates from this course have successful careers in organisations such as:

    • The National Trust
    • English Heritage
    • Creswell Heritage Trust
    • Derby Cathedral
    • Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
    • Heritage Lottery Fund
    • Local authorities and independent museums

  • Our graduates are…

    Graduates from this course now work in a wide range of roles such as:

    • Archaeologists
    • Heritage Facilitators
    • Learning and Research Coordinators
    • Collections Assistants
    • Community Projects Assistants
    • Visitor Experience Officers

  • Assessed work-like experience

    We’ve embedded at least eight weeks of assessed work-like experience into all of our courses. This gives you the opportunity to apply your learning in real-world scenarios, build your confidence, and develop the experience employers are looking for.

  • NTU Enterprise

    If you’re a budding entrepreneur, NTU Student Enterprise can help you to develop your ideas and innovations and turn them into a reality. We also offer training, mentoring, workshops, financial advice and more to develop your business skills.

Where your course could take you

Discover how our students and alumni used their qualification to further their careers. Take a look at our other profiles and explore the possibilities awaiting you.

  • Darren looking into the camera

    Darren Barker on his role as co-founder of Barker Langham

    Darren Barker chats about his experience on MA Museum Heritage and role as co-founder of Barker Langham – one of the UK's leading cultural consultancies.

    View Darren Barker's profile
  • Image of York Minster

    Vicky on her role as Collections Manager at York Minster

    Vicky chats about her experience working at York Minster's Historic Collections, managing 300,000 objects dating from 72AD to the present day.

    View Vicky Harrison's profile

Campus and facilities

NTU’s City Campus has everything you’ll need to stay busy between lectures. As well as the Boots Library and its beautiful roof garden, there’s our stylish Students’ Union building and two-storey, 100-station gym; a whole host of cafés, bars, restaurants and food outlets for every taste; our much-loved Global Lounge; performance and rehearsal spaces for musicians; and much, much more!

Take a few steps off campus and you’ll find yourself in the heart of Nottingham — a legendary student city stuffed with history, culture, and well-kept secrets to discover at your leisure.

Applying

UK students

Ready to join us? Then apply as soon as you can. Just click the Apply button and follow the instructions for applying. Make sure you check the entry requirements above carefully before you do.

Keeping up to date

After you’ve applied, we’ll be sending you important emails throughout the application process - so check your emails regularly, including your junk mail folder.

You can get more information and advice about applying to NTU in our postgraduates’ guide. Here you’ll find advice about how to write a good personal statement and much more. Good luck with your application!

Apply now

International students

You can apply for this course through the NTU applicant portal.

Please read our application guidance before you start your application.

We advise you to prepare and apply as early as you can as Student visa processing time can vary.

We'll send you important emails throughout the application process. Please check your emails regularly, including your junk/spam mail folder.

Apply now

Personal statement guidance

When you apply to NTU, we’ll ask you to submit a personal statement – here are our tips on what to include and how to structure your personal statement.

Application support

If you have any questions about applying, get in touch through our online form or call us on 44 (0)115 848 4200.

Related courses

More from this subject

View more courses on the History and Heritage subject page

Further study

View information about PhDs

Keeping in touch

Ask us a question
Sign up for updates
Call +44 (0)115 848 2999
Email the international team

Explore life at NTU