The Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences (MSSES) is launching a Master’s programme “Cultural Heritage Management”. It’s the first interfaculty Master’s programme in MSSES. It is implemented by both the Faculty of Social and Cultural Project Management and the Faculty of Liberal Arts, so the students will be able to obtain practical skills in museum management through the prism of public history, theory of memory, and history of Soviet culture.
The new Master’s programme will be producing museum employees, exhibition curators, specialists in natural heritage, activists protecting heritage, scholars researching heritage issues, and other professionals, whose work is related to cultural heritage in its various manifestations: official or non-obvious.
Among the new programme teachers are researchers and practitioners from the museum field and the field of public history: Mikhail Gnedovsky, Candidate of Historical Sciences and the Lead Analyst at the Moscow Centre for Museum Development; Vladimir Dukelsky, Candidate of Historical Sciences and specialist in cultural policy and museum management; Andrey Zorin, Doctor of Philology, Professor at MSSES and the Oxford University; Elizaveta Fokina, Director of the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve; Nikolay Pryanishnikov, an expert in urban studies and city planning, etc.
The new Master’s programme will be producing museum employees, exhibition curators, specialists in natural heritage, activists protecting heritage, scholars researching heritage issues, and other professionals, whose work is related to cultural heritage in its various manifestations: official or non-obvious.
Among the new programme teachers are researchers and practitioners from the museum field and the field of public history: Mikhail Gnedovsky, Candidate of Historical Sciences and the Lead Analyst at the Moscow Centre for Museum Development; Vladimir Dukelsky, Candidate of Historical Sciences and specialist in cultural policy and museum management; Andrey Zorin, Doctor of Philology, Professor at MSSES and the Oxford University; Elizaveta Fokina, Director of the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve; Nikolay Pryanishnikov, an expert in urban studies and city planning, etc.
Learning the basic concepts of public history, historical memory, and public spaces will allow undergraduate students to understand the origins of the historical sensitivity of contemporary culture. We consider it important that the programme will be able to upgrade the museum status of non-material heritage (including ideas, inventions, narratives, performances, representations, etc.)
The programme promotes not only mastering of the existing museum technologies but also the formation of a deep understanding of what role heritage and tradition play in the context of contemporary creatively and innovatively oriented civilisation
Mandatory courses within the programme include History of Russia in the 20th Century, Public History and practices of working with cultural heritage, Symbols and emotions in culture, Commemoration practices, Economy and social contexts of heritage. Elective courses include History of Soviet rituals and traditions, Interpretation of heritage, Oral forms of knowledge, Historical narratives, Workshop on storytelling, Working with the past in film, Museum-Preserve Management, Heritage marketing, Museum technologies, Museum anthropology, etc.
MSSES has been training specialists in cultural management for over 20 years. The university was founded in 1995 by sociologist Teodor Shanin, and in the late 1990s, Sergey Zuev, current Rector of MSSES, created the Faculty of Cultural Management, which was later transformed into the Faculty of Social and Cultural Project Management. In that time, the programme produced around 1000 graduates, some of whom currently work in Tretyakov Gallery, Kremlin museums, Tsaritsyno, Museum of Cryptography, and other cultural institutions.
The faculty and its programmes have somewhat of a calling card – they combine practical skills in project management and team management with theoretical training. In the course of their education, all the students write original research and analytical papers on the subjects they personally find interesting. Meanwhile, they learn to work on projects independently and complete all the stages of project preparation and implementation. The first academic year in MSSES traditionally ends with the presentation of projects that the students have been working on in small teams together with their tutor. At the end of year two, the students work on their Master’s thesis – an original theoretical or empirical research summarising their two-year training.
MSSES has been training specialists in cultural management for over 20 years. The university was founded in 1995 by sociologist Teodor Shanin, and in the late 1990s, Sergey Zuev, current Rector of MSSES, created the Faculty of Cultural Management, which was later transformed into the Faculty of Social and Cultural Project Management. In that time, the programme produced around 1000 graduates, some of whom currently work in Tretyakov Gallery, Kremlin museums, Tsaritsyno, Museum of Cryptography, and other cultural institutions.
The faculty and its programmes have somewhat of a calling card – they combine practical skills in project management and team management with theoretical training. In the course of their education, all the students write original research and analytical papers on the subjects they personally find interesting. Meanwhile, they learn to work on projects independently and complete all the stages of project preparation and implementation. The first academic year in MSSES traditionally ends with the presentation of projects that the students have been working on in small teams together with their tutor. At the end of year two, the students work on their Master’s thesis – an original theoretical or empirical research summarising their two-year training.