Course Structure

Overview of the course structure

The course content of the Master's Degree in Advanced Studies of Museums and Historical and Artistic Heritage is based on the provisions of Royal Decree 1393/2007, which regulates master's degree courses, and the Guidelines for the implementation of master's studies approved by the Governing Board of the Complutense University of Madrid. It is structured around a mixed configuration of modules and subjects with compulsory and elective ECTS credits (as defined by RD 1125/2003).

Students working towards the master’s will have their study organised around semesters. All the modules and subject areas are formed of study units worth 6 ECTS credits each. The course programme comprises two modules, a Master’s Dissertation (12 ECTS), and an external work placement (18 ECTS), which must all be completed within three semesters.

The modules are: Module 1: Contemporary and historical museum studies (36 ECTS), mixed compulsory and elective study units, and Module 2: Museum typologies (18 ECTS), elective study units.

The teaching-learning process is time-structured according to the following factors.

Module 1: Contemporary and historical museum studies (36 ECTS). Preferably studied in the first semester of the master’s programme. It consists of three subject areas designed to equip the student with advanced theoretical knowledge of museums and historical heritage history, research methodology and legislation, as well as conservation, management and administration in these fields, from a contemporary perspective. Each study unit is organised on the basis of 3 classroom or class-related credits (2 for lectures and 1 for tutorials and seminars), and 3 independent study ECTS.
Module 2: Museum typologies (18 ECTS). Studied in the second semester of the master’s programme. It consists of two advanced training subject areas: “Types of museums” and “Museums in the Community of Madrid”. Each study unit is organised on the basis of 3 classroom or class-related credits (1 for lectures and 2 for tutorials, practicals and seminars), and 3 independent study ECTS.
Work placement (18 ECTS. Compulsory unit equivalent to a part-time schedule — 4-5 hours per day, from Monday to Friday—). The work placement is undertaken in the third semester. The Master's Coordinating Committee will establish the requirements in accordance with the UCM’s collaboration agreements with private and public institutions and companies. These agreements will be published in the student guide and through other information systems used by the Faculty and the UCM. The external work placements will be supported by an internal tutor (professor) and an external tutor (from the company or institution responsible).

Year in which the degree was introduced

2010-2011 Academic Year

General information on the credit distribution for each subject and the number of credits awarded for each study unit

Module 1: Contemporary and historical museum studies (compulsory) (48 ECTS, of which the student must obtain 36 ECTS credits)

Subject Area 1: Theory, history and research methodologies in museum studies and historical and artistic heritage (18 ECTS credits)

1.1.1 General Theory of the Museum and Historical and Artistic Heritage (6 ECTS credits)

1.1.2 History of Public Collections and Museums (6 ECTS credits)

1.1.3 Museum architecture (6 ECTS credits)

Subject Area 2: Legal bases and research methodologies in museum studies and historical and artistic heritage (12 ECTS credits)

1.2.1 Historical and Artistic Heritage Legislation (6 ECTS credits)

1.2.2 Museum Legislation (6 ECTS credits)

Subject Area 3: Conservation, management y administration of museums and heritage (18 ECTS credits)

1.3.1 Management and Planning of Museums and Temporary Exhibitions (6 ECTS credits)

1.3.2 Educational Extension of Museology (6 ECTS credits)

1.3.3 Research in the Museum: Inventories, Catalogues and Analysis (6 ECTS credits)

Module 2: Types of museums (Mixed) (42 ECTS, of which the student must obtain 24 ECTS)

Subject Area 4: Types of museums

2.1.1 Archaeological, Ecclesiastical and Medieval Art Museums (6 ECTS credits)

2.1.2 Monographic Museums: House-Museums and Thematic Museums (6 ECTS credits)

2.1.3 Museums of Contemporary Art and Public and Private Foundations (6 ECTS credits)

2.1.4 The Present-Day Museum: New Exhibition Spaces, Collecting and the Art Market (6 ECTS credits)

Subject Area 5: Museums in the Community of Madrid

2.2.1 The Museo del Prado (6 ECTS credits)

2.2.2 The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (6 ECTS credits)

2.2.3 National Heritage: Management of its Monuments, Collections, Gardens and Museums (6 ECTS credits)

External work placement (compulsory) (18 ECTS) Third Semester

The Master's Coordinating Committee will determine the requirements in accordance with the UCM’s collaboration agreements with both public and private institutions and companies. These agreements will be published in the student guide and through other information systems used by the Faculty and the UCM. The external work placements will be supported by an internal tutor (professor) and an external tutor (from the company or institution responsible).

Master’s Dissertation (compulsory) (12 ECTS) Third semester

Brief description of the modules or subjects, their temporal sequence and the skills associated with each of the modules or subjects

Optional criteria: The student must obtain 18 and 12 ECTS from subject areas 1 and 2 respectively and will have to choose 6 ECTS from among the 18 elective ECTS offered in Subject Area 3. 36 ECTS in total. Additionally, the student will have to choose 12 ECTS from among the 18 elective ECTS offered in Subject Area 4 and 6 ECTS from among the 18 elective ECTS offered in Subject Area 5. 18 ECTS in total.

As a whole, this master’s degree offers consistent advanced training applied to the use of information and knowledge technology techniques and tools, with support from the resources at the Faculty and the UCM (library, Wi-Fi area, computer rooms, laboratories, map library, audio library, Virtual Campus, etc.).

The Master also benefits from access to Madrid's leading libraries and proximity to some of the most prestigious museums and monuments in the world. The integration of these resources, especially during practical and seminar activities, is distributed proportionally throughout the subject areas, maximising the student’s opportunity to fully accomplish the skills defined by the degree.

Subject teaching guide

Collaboration arrangements or agreements, and aid programmes for student exchanges

The Complutense University collaborates with universities around the world to offer mobility programmes for both students and teaching staff. Students at the Faculty of Geography and History may participate in those programmes to partake in academic courses or research activities.

Student mobility is centred on the SICUE programmes (Spanish University Centres Exchange System) in Spain and ERASMUS in Europe.

Information on the procedures, agreements with universities, places offered and applications can be found on the Faculty of Geography and History’s website: https://geografiaehistoria.ucm.es/programa-sicue

The management and coordination of mobility programmes is the responsibility of the Vice-Dean of International, Institutional and Student Relations and the Mobility Office: e-mail: mobility@ghis.ucm.es. The UCM’s Faculty of Geography and History has established agreements for studies in Art History, and consequently for the students of the Master in Advanced Studies of Museums and Historical and Artistic Heritage, with the following universities:

University of Vienna, Université Libre de Bruxelles, KU Leuven, Charles University in Prague, Freie Universität, Berlin, Goethe University Frankfurt, University of Freiburg, University of Oulu, University of Turku, Université de Franche-Comté (Besançon), University of Savoie Mont Blanc, Université de Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV), Université de Haute-Bretagne (Rennes II), Université de Valenciennes et du Hainaut-Cambresis, Université de Versailles Saint Quentin, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, University of Florence, University of Pisa, Università degli Studi di Roma Tré, University of Udine, Università degli Studi ‘Ca Foscari’di Venezia, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, University of Bergen, University of Wroclaw, University of Coimbra, University of Bucharest, Stockholm University.

External work placement (agreements with public or private entities, tutoring system, application systems, award criteria...)

18 compulsory ECTS equivalent to a part-time schedule — 4-5 hours per day, from Monday to Friday—. The work placement is undertaken in the third semester. The Master's Coordinating Committee will establish the requirements in accordance with the UCM’s collaboration agreements with private and public institutions and companies. These agreements will be published in the student guide and through other information systems used by the Faculty and the UCM. The external work placements will be supported by an internal tutor (professor) and an external tutor (from the company or institution responsible). We have prior agreements and signed conventions with the following institutions:

Museo Nacional del Prado
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
Patrimonio Nacional
Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao
Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid
Instituto del Patrimonio Cultural de España -IPCE-
Dirección General de Bellas Artes y Bienes Culturales
Museo de América
Museo de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
Real Fábrica de Tapices
Museo de Artes decorativas
Museo Nacional de Arqueología Subacuática, ARQUA
Museo del Traje
Museo Cerralbo
Museo Sefardí, Toledo
Museo ABC
Museo Nacional de Arte bávaro, Munich
Kunsthistoriches Museum, Viena
Fundación Juan March
Museo y Fundación Lázaro Galdiano
Fundación de Amigos del Museo del Prado
Fundación Casas Históricas y Singulares
Federación de Amigos de los Museos
Complete list of Museums with active internship agreements in External work placement

Student arrival, including reception and integration plans and tutelage

Access to master’s studies: https://www.ucm.es/proceso-de-admision-masteres

Specific requirements for accessing this degree:

Recommended student profile: This course is recommended to Graduates in Art History, History, Archaeology, Architecture, Fine Arts, and Music Sciences; however, because of the interdisciplinarity of these studies and the likely application of students from other EU and Latin American countries, alternative access routes may be considered. All candidates must have a basic knowledge of Art History to be able to adequately follow the teachings. No specific test will be carried out, although prior training and its suitability to the training objectives of the master will be taken into account during the selection process. Students with academic curricula containing credits in Art History, History of Architecture, History, Law, Sociology, studies and official master's degrees previously carried out in the field of museology, historical and artistic heritage, cultural management, restoration and design and curating of museums and temporary exhibitions will be preferentially evaluated for admission. Languages will also be valued.
Transfer and credit recognition. Official Gazette of the Complutense University, 10th of November 2011: Modification of the Regulations on the Recognition and Transfer of Credits (published in the BOUC no. 15 of the 15th of November 2010).
Information and guidance mechanisms for enrolled students. Expertise from the Public University Master of the same name, and from which this current programme is derived, identified a need to reinforce the Faculty of Geography and History's information systems because the majority of the students enrolling do not come from the UCM's current BA in Art History. In general, once enrolled, student orientation is provided through the Complutense University’s Publications, information days organised by the Faculty, web pages and the personalised support extended to students by the faculty executive team and the Student Liaison service. With regard to the Master in Advanced Studies in Museums and Historical and Artistic Heritage specifically, the following mechanisms have been put in place:

Reception and guided tour of the Faculty for master's students, organised by the Deanship of the Faculty (Vice-Deanship of Students) and the Master’s Coordinating Committee, in order to facilitate their awareness of and access to study resources which will be useful for their learning process. The tour is intended to introduce them to all the Centre’s features, resources and facilities.
Orientation days for those interested in accessing the master’s, as a way of extending early information. For every course, the Master’s Coordinating Committee organises an early orientation day for enrolled students, as well as two other sessions aimed explicitly at orientation prior to the external work placement modules and the Master’s Dissertation.
The UCM’s Faculty of Geography and History website and personalised support from the Student Liaison service and the Deanship. The Master's Teaching Guide, which details the course content, facilities and services available to students, teaching plan and calendar of events, is published on the UCM’s Faculty of Geography and History website. This website also provides a link to the dedicated website for this particular master’s degree.

Information channels.

The Vice-Deanship of students and the Faculty Secretariat will maintain a permanently-open information channel for dealing with administrative issues.
Similarly, the Vice-Deanship responsible for mobility programmes, the members of the Faculty’s Mobility Committee and the mobility office of the Faculty Secretariat arrange information days to promote the mobility of MA students. These will be advertised in advance on the master’s website.
A Student Delegation, made up of representatives on the Faculty Board, organises supplementary information measures.
The tutoring systems provided for in each of the modules and subjects ensure individualised support for all students.
The Master’s Coordinator will provide any academic information required by students during their tutoring hours.

Teaching Guide. There is a specific Teaching Guide for the master's degree. The guide contains detailed information on the course content, credit systems, the Faculty’s services and resources, the timetable for practical classes, requisites and deadlines for presenting the Master’s Dissertation, etc.
Measures designed to welcome and orientate students. A welcome meeting for new students is held at the beginning of the course. This meeting is also attended by the teaching staff. In this session, the Master’s Coordinating Committee outlines the general make up of the course, the planned academic activities and the information tools available to students (website, etc.).

This initial act also serves to introduce students to the team responsible for coordinating the master and the teaching staff.
The coordinating team has established a tutoring system designed to offer a more individualised approach to supporting students.
One of the fundamental tasks of the coordinator is to monitor the performance of master’s students. To achieve this, they will provide support through publicly advertised and accessible consultation hours and tutorials. Similarly, the professors teaching the course have set public tutoring schedules throughout the academic year: These sessions are designed to answer any academic questions or queries raised by students working towards the master’s.

Master’s Dissertation

General guidelines: Procedure for the Master’s Dissertation. Official Gazette of the Complutense University, 15th of December 2010
Specific guidelines for the degree.

DEFINITION

(12 ECTS). The Master’s Dissertation is written in the third semester. A UCM professor with a doctorate will be assigned to direct the project. Its formal characteristics, as well as its theoretical and methodological basis, will be established by the degree’s Quality Commission, and it may be an academic research work or a practical project. The following mechanisms, published in the Teaching Guide delivered to all students and also available at the Student Administration Office, the Art History Departments and the Faculty Dean's Office will be used for assessment. The Master’s Final Dissertation must consist of between 70,000 and 100,000 characters with spaces, not including notes or bibliography (as a guide, about 30-50 pages of 30 lines x 70 characters per page). The assessment criteria will be as follows:

Writing and presentation.
Bibliography and notes.
Subject originality.
Scientific rigour.

Two judging committees will be established to read and evaluate the projects, which will be distributed equitably according to the possible lines of research developed in them. Each committee and its deputies will consist of 3+3 members of the master's teaching staff. Dissertation directors must issue a reasoned, written report endorsing the work, and this must be attached to the project before it is sent to the judging committee assigned to assess it. The defence of the projects will take place in public. Coordinating system: The Master's Coordinating Committee comprises the Master's Coordinator, a Master’s Academic Secretary and three Members. These five members will be selected from the master’s teaching staff and the Quality Commission for the Master's Degree in Advanced Studies of Museums and Historical and Artistic Heritage.

In order to avoid overlaps and repetitions in the teaching of the different subjects, study units and activities, all staff teaching the master’s must send the Commission their teaching guides and compulsory reading list before the start of the academic year.
Furthermore, before the start of each semester, the Commission will meet with the master's teachers to coordinate said teaching guides and compulsory reading lists. They will also set a schedule for the non-classroom practicals and activities offered to students during the semester.
At the end of each course, the Commission will meet with the master's teaching staff again to verify compliance with the teaching guides, compulsory reading lists and the results obtained in the student evaluations

PRESENTATION OF THE MASTER’S FINAL DISSERTATION

Two calls:

June
September

Presentation and defence