About
BA History of Art & Museum Studies has been taught at Liverpool John Moores University since 1996. In a city which is replete with museums and galleries, this programme makes countless field visits into the rich art institutions of Merseyside. There are more museums and galleries in Liverpool than in any city other than London – so it is an excellent city in which to study History of Art and Museum Studies. Informed by internationally important research, the BA (Hons) History of Art and Museum Studies programme is taught in our award-winning John Lennon Art and Design Building and offers exciting international internship opportunities. For example, each year, two students are selected as Interns to work at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice. The course at LJMU is the only undergraduate course in the world that offers this opportunity.
Students have the opportunity to examine particular art works and artists of their own choice in detail. In fact, effectively, students can even design their own pathways of study. For example, if contemporary art is a passion, a student could choose this as the research topic for almost all assessments, whereas if another student planned to work as a Museum Curator, they can be assessed on their museum placements. The programme philosophy is not to assess via examination. Instead, all study is through coursework, so that deep learning is attained via relevant assignments that replicate tasks in the workplace. These include assignments such as producing audio tours of museum collections, curating real exhibitions, and completing gallery PR activities.
We have contacts with all of the local art galleries and museums, but the LJMU staff who have ‘embedded posts’, and who also work in institutions like Tate Liverpool and National Museums Liverpool, ensure that our students can get behind the scenes of these prestigious organisations. All staff are active researchers and curate exhibitions, write books and host symposia or other art events regularly as part of their international research practice.
Our students progress from their degree to go on to have careers such as curating, exhibitions organisation, teaching, art therapy, conservation, heritage management, auctioneering, publishing, archives and public relations- amongst many more. Countless transferable skills are acquired as a result of the emphasis in the course on research, writing, analysis and presentation skills.
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